Jon

Another swarm arrives

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Jon
, 09-06-2013 at 05:30 PM (4428 Views)
I was just getting ready to head out to the allotment to do some weeding when my other half called me out to the garden where the air was black with bees.

The bait hives had been actively scouted all morning.

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This time they chose a wooden national as opposed to the Payne Poly nuc.

But then a lot of fanning started and bees were going under the nuc.

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Oops. the queen must be in there.
No comments about my Sunday best garb please.

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I shook the bees off on to the roof and saw the queen scuttling about.
Didn't get a great picture.

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Lovely set of red legs on her.

Do you think that queen was marked and the spot wore off? Seems to be a bit of a mark there.

The bees look pretty dark so the morphometry might be interesting.

Once they were in I took the cruddy comb away from them and gave the a mixture of drawn comb and foundation.
I had a quick look below the crown board of the other swarm and it is covering 8 frames.
This one might be a similar size.

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Comments

  1. drumgerry's Avatar
    Hmmm...maybe a hint of yellow on her thorax Jon
  2. Jon's Avatar
    I'll have a good look at her some time later but it does look like the remnant of a mark.
    If you mark with a posca pen and return her before the paint dries the workers will clean it straight off.

    Worst case scenario for any of these swarms they will fill about 25 apideas.

    Foragers were bringing in pollen within half an hour. Amazing work rate.
  3. drumgerry's Avatar
    Shame I live in a bit of a bee desert Jon (apart from my own and a couple of others' single colonies). I could do with an Apidea-filling swarm as I've got 10 to make up this week!
  4. Jon's Avatar
    I grafted into a colony whose queen went missing on Friday and they have started 12+ cells so at least I am off the mark for 2013.
    I know 3 beekeepers within a mile of me but they all lost their bees over winter.
    There is another guy with 2 colonies just under 2 miles away but I heard him say he had marked his queens last week so I don't think they are coming from him.
    How far do you think a swarm would travel?
  5. drumgerry's Avatar
    I have no idea Jon but I'd imagine only a couple of miles max. Does Seeley have something to say about it as I know you've been to a talk of his?
  6. Jon's Avatar
    I remember he said they like to be at least a mile from another colony - presumably to do with overlapping forage areas.
    That one which came in this afternoon chose a site only 4 feet from the one which arrived earlier in the week.
    I must get one or both of Seeley's books.
  7. drumgerry's Avatar
    With myself we're probably looking at 6 miles or so as the bee flies to any number of other hives - maybe the odd one dotted in between if they made it through the winterspring. But who's to say there's not going to be a survivor colony in the woods which will fire out a swarm in this weather?! A few years ago a huge swarm of the darkest bees flew in out of nowhere to Knockando Woolmill http://www.knockandowoolmill.org.uk/ which is a few hundred yards from my house. They took up residence in a wall full of ancient combs stuffed with honey and I never managed to get them out. The tragedy is that a few months later some workies killed the lot despite having been told to leavve them alone.
  8. Trog's Avatar
    Winterspring - excellent word!
  9. drumgerry's Avatar
    I thought it seemed apt for what we've just experienced Trog!