Bee Lore

On Sunday, I got a very unexpected email and phone call!  It was from the man who told me about the last swarm that I caught (see the blog entry about catching a swarm in 15 minutes).  He had another smaller swarm (which turned out to be a cast).  And it was in EXACTLY THE SAME PLACE!

I went round on early Monday morning and scooped the cast into a box.  It was raining and the bees clung to each other like treacle.  Because I had done it before – and the bees were so accessible, I think this time it took even less than 15 minutes!  Probably more like 10!

Anyway, Monday was a rainy day and that evening we returned to pick up the nucleus box.

This morning, I met up with an old friend and gave her the cast as her (only) hive had gone queenless.  When she put the cast into her hive (she has a Dartington Long Hive with two sides to it) – she found that the colony was no longer queenless but that the queen has started laying.  Oh well!

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The other night I was rung by a local who had a swarm of bees just outside his house in a newly planted Hawthorne Tree.  Trouble was that I was going up to London half an hour later!  So I only had about 15 minutes to catch the swarm.  But I gave it a go.

When I arrived, the swarm was beautiful – quite large and very settled!  Here is a picture of it:

It was about 17.00 when I started this.  If it had been 20.00 it might not have been as effective.

I put a large sheet on the ground under the tree and then held a nucleus box made from plywood with four frames of foundation under the bottom of the swarm.  I sprayed the bees with water and with my right hand I gently swept the hanging bees into the box.  About half fell in – including, I suspect, the Queen.  There were a few bees on the ground which I gently put into the box.  The lid then went on the box.

I asked the owner for a chair and put the box on the chair with the sheet between the box and chair so that the bees could climb up the sheet into the box.

I finally shook the tree about twice to get the final bees off the tree and into the air.

Whole process took 15 minutes.  When I rang the owner of the tree at 18.00 and most of the swarm was in the box.

At 08.00 the next morning, I picked up the box and took it back to the apiary.  Very successful!  Five swarms in May with still a few more days of sun that might produce another one or two!

I find the most useful equipment for catching a swarm is:

a)  a plywood nucleus box with about 4 frames (not six) so there is a bit more space if you are going to knock the bees into the box

b)  a sheet from a double bed that can go on the ground so you can see where the bees have dropped – as well as giving the bees something to climb up into the box if they are too weak to fly.

c)  a chair or stool to put the swarm on (if you can’t put the box back on top of where the bees where originally)

d)  a water sprayer (optional) – I used water this time and liked it as the bees get less stressed with water than if you use smoke.

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