Native Queen in a cast swarm

[Jon]

This is the type of queen I like to see in a swarm.
I picked up this little cast swarm on Friday 30th about a mile and a half from my house and put it in an apidea with 2 apidea supers on, now extended to 3 supers.
She had mated and was laying 6 days later.
I took the apidea stack into the shed today to clip and mark her.
I found her quite quickly but she flew off the frame and out the door of the shed.
I brought the apidea back to its spot and caught her at the entrance 2 minutes later.
Bet she wasn't expecting that!

Amazing difference between this one and the yellow one I got in a bait hive a couple of weeks earlier.

black-queen-cast-swarm.jpg yellow queen3.jpg

[Jon]

Just found out that a recent member of the queen rearing group who keeps his bees a mile and a half from my garden bought a Buckfast colony via one of the English mail order companies last year, Fragile Planet I think.
He has now seen the error of his ways.
That probably explains where the yellow queen came from.
Hey guys, I am a Buckfast Beekeeper!

[fatshark]

Hey guys, I am a Buckfast Beekeeper!

Not for long I suspect
I've had a couple of swarms arriving with queens like that big yellow one. There's a beekeeper near me who can't or won't clip 'em and yet more interest in a bait hive yesterday. Bring them on … I've got another 10 grafts to be accommodated in the middle of next week.