Well, it turns out I missed a juicy queen cell after a new queen had
emerged last weekend. So it was she who swarmed. Anyway, a new (new)
queen was seen yesterday, so the hive is queen-right again. So that's good.
The swarm, though, is a puzzle. They're about 20 feet up in a magnolia
tree, and have been there since they swarmed on Friday. I thought they
would have moved on to a permanent home by now, but they seem to be
stubbornly hanging around. I've left a nuc with drawn and un-drawn comb
near-ish to the swarm, but I don't have any lure pheromone, unfortunately.
Do you think the scout bees might find it anyway?
I'm not particularly bothered if I lose the bees - I'm more concerned that
they leave my neighbour's garden before he starts getting nervous. I
assume they won't try to nest in the open, will they? I'm also hoping they
don't pick my neighbour's loft or chimney as their new home...
As I mentioned, the swarm is about 20' up, and because it's a magnolia the
branches are too bendy for me to lean a ladder against it. Getting an
a-frame ladder underneath is going to be a challenge as the ground
underneath is flower beds and shrubs at uneven levels. They really have
made themselves bloomin' hard to collect! If anyone has any suggestions,
I'm all ears.
Cheers,
Andy.
On Sat, 2 May 2020 at 18:23, Steve Fletcher <sfletcher99@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Sounds like you're both having fun with your bees. I hope you have managed
to reclaim your swarms okay now. As long as you leave just one juicy queen
cell in the parent colony they should requeen themselves and all will be
well. Good luck! Feel free to phone me if you want to talk things through.
07086080375
Best regards,
Steve
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On Sat, 2 May 2020 at 09:13, Andy Hepburn <andyhep@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Reassuring(?!) to hear it wasn’t just me...! Why on earth they would
swarm in such bad weather I don’t know. Mine managed to survive the heavy
downpour last night, and are still in the tree (I checked them just now).
I’d only inspected 5 days previously, so either I missed a queen cell, or
they’re just in a very swarmy mood. Will have a look in the hives today to
see which one they came from.
Isn’t swarm season fun?!?
Andy.
On Sat, 2 May 2020 at 09:04, Ian Gilchrist <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Thanks Andy, and just for interest I had a swarm go yesterday too.
Inconveniently they settled in my neighbours' garden causing
consternation to the children, but fortunately they setteld very
conveniently on the bird-table at head height in a nice compact bunch.
Waiting until 5pm I (with help from Annie) was able to collect them into my
new polynuc box (bought at the end of last year especially for this
purpose!), and then at 8pm trnsported the box back to my apiary.
This morning I have done some seat-of-the-pants manipulations to get the
swarm (I hope with Q) into the Nuc#1. Will check Hive#1 tomorrow for QCs
because that's where I think the swarm came from... I will also be feeding
swarm/Nuc#1 with weak syrup so they can quickly start drawing the new
foundation that I have put there.
Sometimes I think this game has more excitement than I really want...
Ian
Ian Gilchrist
24 Horseshoe Walk
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On Friday, 1 May 2020, 21:20:18 BST, Andy Hepburn <andyhep@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Evening all,
A salutary lesson if, like me, you didn't think bees would swarm on a
day when hail is forecast:
http://beechenbees.blogspot.com
Enjoy!
Andy.
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