A Huge Swarm

[HayleyB]

CB was about to go into the yard to show her friend the new chooks when I noticed a huge swarm of bees over the stables, got the kids and dogs inside pronto. But........

The bees have taken up residence in the lining of Lenny's stable, thousands of them and the noise is incredible........

HELP

[miffy]

Call the council and ask them for the telephone number of any local bee keepers and they will come and take them away for you.
Good luck.

[RedThorn]

Get a hive and ask a local keeper to help you move it! lucky you! Am jealous...

[allotmentlady]

lucky you! British Beekeepers' Association maybe u can get some help from here sweetie xx

[HayleyB]

Thanks guy's I know I need pollinators but this is too mad

[JimmerG]

Hayley - Its a common misconception that a swarm of bees is an angry and terrifying thing. However in MOST cases - once swarmed the bees will be very placid and certainly won't attack anyone!

The way to get rid of them - and I'm NOT suggesting you try it - but leave it to an expert... is to stick a box underneath them and knock the whole swarm of their perch so they land with a thud in the box! Then a simple towel is thron over them to stop them flying out!

So they look and sound more scary than they are...

J

[HayleyB]

I have emailed a swarm collector who probably knows an old friend of mine - a beekeeper who died in 2007

[HayleyB]

Well.....

It looks like getting them to a new home would cause a fair bit of damage to the stables as they are so solid (built from spare bits from Potton Homes). So the little darlings who have put themselves to bed and only buzzing at a much lower volume than earlier are staying

[Mrs Dobby]

Good news that they are staying for the time being, if you can get hold of a hive, a swarm lure and smoker it may still be possible to get them out to take up residence in a hive, which would be a much better propostion for their long term survival. Most bees in the uk now have varroa mite infestation, left alone without a proper regime of Varroa management the mites will increase to such a level that the colony will become too weak to survive, there are now virtually no wild bees left in the uk, varroa has killed off what few colonies there were!

We've been fortunate enough this week to have been involved in the capture and rehoming of 2 swarms, 2 of our hives now have colonies establishing within them, and today we almost had another swarm!

Lee and Colin (fellow plot holder and aspiring beekeeper) went to the local apiary where our hives are currently located (whilst we check that the new colonies have mated queens within them, before we move them onto the apiary on our plot) to feed the swarm we housed on Sunday and the other one we housed yesterday, to see yet another swarm from one of the other hives on that apiary, it settled in a nearby tree, so they set off to fetch a hive to put it in. After fetching one of our other hives and setting it up they were unfortunately unable to find where the swarm had gone, so we left that hive set up with a feeder, in the hopes that the scouting bees from the swarm find it tomorrow and decide to move in!

If they do, then in the space of 5 days we'll have gone from no bees to 3 hives!

[HayleyB]

How do you manage Varroa?

[janeyo]

My nan once had a swarm in her garden in the shape of a cup and saucer. I can still remember it. A man came and took them away. Hope your new residents are happy

[Mrs Dobby]

Managing Varroa is something that can be done in many ways, chemically (usually done in the winter, a varroacide is introduced to the hive when brood is at a minimum in order to kill off as many of the varroa mites as possible), through weekly dosings of icing sugar (causes the bees to preen themselves thoroughly, resulting in some of the mites being dislodged), through the use of a varroa open mesh floor (allows any mites that fall from the bees to pass straight through the bottom of the hive, not allowing them to regain an attachment to the bees) and through the shook swarm method of replacing comb to reduce the infestation. None of these on their own are an answer, so generally they are used in combination, different folk use differing methods and combinations, but although it is almost impossible to completely eradicate the varroa from a hive, it is possible to control their numbers to ensure they have minimal impact on the bees.

Hope this is of some help!

[NOG]

What a great pressie.

[SlugLobber]

Lucky you, but how scary at the same time! Regardless of all the facts, there are still those thoughts which pop up, like the Killer Bee programmes or My Girl!

I rode past some heather on a wall the other day and my thigh brushed right into it (it was a narrow lane and a car was overtaking). A load of bees flew out and I nearly pooed me pants! Henry was ok, though! What a good boy (thankfully!).

[HayleyB]

It was a bit scary but happier now I know that CB has been stung before when around a friends house, not knowing if your child is allergic to these things are a bit worrying. I'm allergic to duck eggs and know anaphalaxia is no laughing matter. His lordship has been stung previously, I haven't. We have contacted our old frinds wife Jen and hope she may be able to find someone to help us move to a hive.