*I believe Jon meant to send this to the mailing list so I will forward it,
with a comment or two - Paul*
Hi. I hived 2 swarms this evening - I had planned to walk them in but in
the end it was really windy around the house - so I shook them in instead
as I didn’t want them to spend a second night boxed up. * [Paul: very wise.
Walking them in is fun, but things can go wrong, so in poor weather it is
best to pop them in as fast as possible. The wind today, and predicted rain
tomorrow will be a big incentive to stay rather than abscond!]*
The cast swarm from Juli was actually quite small - very docile and quiet.
They went into the hive and only now - an hour or so later are they
venturing outside.
The prime swarm from Kerry was huge & very boisterous and noisy. They were
building comb in some quantity in the 24 hours they were in the swarm box.
They took longer to settle and at one point I thought they were absconding
(could I have lost the queen !?!?!?). In the end they have now settled
down too. We think this swarm is descended from a swarm I gave Kerry in
2019.
Fingers crossed they are happy.
Thanks to Kerry and Juli for catching and donating. And to Paul and Lynne
for the list in the first place.
Cheers. Jonny
