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We have just started trying to keep bees after buying a hive and assorted gubbins on Ebay at the end of last season.
I set up the hive in the apiary area of our allotment and was given a swarm by another beekeeper a week or so back (Alldigging from this forum) but unfortunately they re-swarmed later that day, so we lost them.
The weekend just gone was completely crazy - on Saturday morning I was on my allotment for a couple of hours before I wandered up to chat to a newly arrived plot neighbour.
As I got close he said 'I think we may have a bee problem', and pointed over towards Alldiggging's shed where a large number of bees were circling.
On closer inspection I found that she had left an old bait box out, balanced on top of some pallets and a wild swarm had found it and was busily going in.
Alldigging lives nearby, so was soon on site after I had called her, and she promised us the swarm.
Shortly after that I went home, and had only been in for about an hour or so when Alldigging called and told me that she had caught another wild swarm in an alley near to her house. As this one was larger, we agreed to have that one instead.
As the first swarm had left within a few hours of being put in the hive we decided to wait until near dusk to introduce these to their new home, so Alldigging and my wife spent a happy half hour or so tipping bees out of a cardboard box and into the hive.
On Sunday morning we paid a visit, and heard lots of happy buzzing from the box so assumed all was well, but at 12.30 another message from Alldigging informed us that this swarm, too, had left.
About two hours later we were sat in the front garden with our grandson when we heard a load of buzzing, and looked up to see a huge swarm flying up the road towards us! They flew right overhead and ended up about 12' up a neighbours conifer hedge.
I decided that I would try and catch these, even though I had no experience and the biggest set of steps I had was only 3' high! I am 6' tall, so I still had quite a stretch to reach the bees.
Positioning a large empty box on an old shower curtain under the bees, I stretched up with my loppers and started to cut blindly inside the hedge.
The first small branch missed the box entirely, so I jumped down and scooped up as many bees as I could into the box, but realised I hadn't got the queen as those still inthe tree showed no signs of moving.
The second branch was larger, and much heavier with the weight of bees which made it swing and drop all over my head - fortunately I was wearing my wife's beekeeping smock and veil, but it was still a bit unsettling.
A couple more branches later I finally got the queen into the box, ten minutes later about 95% of the bees were in the box!
As you can imagine, all this flailing around in the middle of a swarm had attracted the attention of several neighbours who now think I'm a hero
Sunday night saw us pouring the swarm into the hive (without super) but this time we put the queen excluder under the hive to keep her inside for a few days.
This swarm looke to be nearly double the size of the previous two, and some of the bees were very pale, almost albino. Could they be of Italian descent as Alldigging thinks?
As of today they are still in the hive, and we are planning on going to feed them some sugar syrup as the rain will have kept most of them inside over the past day or so, and so they may be getting quite hungry.
We are hoping that this will be third time lucky and they will stay so we can get our hive up and running at last.
I would be intrested to hear if anyone else has had such trouble getting started. and if anyone has any advice on how to get them to stay once we remove the queen excluder from the base?
Andy
I set up the hive in the apiary area of our allotment and was given a swarm by another beekeeper a week or so back (Alldigging from this forum) but unfortunately they re-swarmed later that day, so we lost them.
The weekend just gone was completely crazy - on Saturday morning I was on my allotment for a couple of hours before I wandered up to chat to a newly arrived plot neighbour.
As I got close he said 'I think we may have a bee problem', and pointed over towards Alldiggging's shed where a large number of bees were circling.
On closer inspection I found that she had left an old bait box out, balanced on top of some pallets and a wild swarm had found it and was busily going in.
Alldigging lives nearby, so was soon on site after I had called her, and she promised us the swarm.
Shortly after that I went home, and had only been in for about an hour or so when Alldigging called and told me that she had caught another wild swarm in an alley near to her house. As this one was larger, we agreed to have that one instead.
As the first swarm had left within a few hours of being put in the hive we decided to wait until near dusk to introduce these to their new home, so Alldigging and my wife spent a happy half hour or so tipping bees out of a cardboard box and into the hive.
On Sunday morning we paid a visit, and heard lots of happy buzzing from the box so assumed all was well, but at 12.30 another message from Alldigging informed us that this swarm, too, had left.
About two hours later we were sat in the front garden with our grandson when we heard a load of buzzing, and looked up to see a huge swarm flying up the road towards us! They flew right overhead and ended up about 12' up a neighbours conifer hedge.
I decided that I would try and catch these, even though I had no experience and the biggest set of steps I had was only 3' high! I am 6' tall, so I still had quite a stretch to reach the bees.
Positioning a large empty box on an old shower curtain under the bees, I stretched up with my loppers and started to cut blindly inside the hedge.
The first small branch missed the box entirely, so I jumped down and scooped up as many bees as I could into the box, but realised I hadn't got the queen as those still inthe tree showed no signs of moving.
The second branch was larger, and much heavier with the weight of bees which made it swing and drop all over my head - fortunately I was wearing my wife's beekeeping smock and veil, but it was still a bit unsettling.
A couple more branches later I finally got the queen into the box, ten minutes later about 95% of the bees were in the box!
As you can imagine, all this flailing around in the middle of a swarm had attracted the attention of several neighbours who now think I'm a hero
Sunday night saw us pouring the swarm into the hive (without super) but this time we put the queen excluder under the hive to keep her inside for a few days.
This swarm looke to be nearly double the size of the previous two, and some of the bees were very pale, almost albino. Could they be of Italian descent as Alldigging thinks?
As of today they are still in the hive, and we are planning on going to feed them some sugar syrup as the rain will have kept most of them inside over the past day or so, and so they may be getting quite hungry.
We are hoping that this will be third time lucky and they will stay so we can get our hive up and running at last.
I would be intrested to hear if anyone else has had such trouble getting started. and if anyone has any advice on how to get them to stay once we remove the queen excluder from the base?
Andy
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