a swarm that came to me

[taff..]

I had an empty nuc box at the back of my apiary, a neighbours bees swarmed this week and decided my nucleus box is a nice place to live, I have been talking to Foobaamagic for a while about sorting him out with some bees so I called him and asked him to come over and transfer them to his hive.

this is the nuc with the roof removed

and this is what we found when we lifted the crown board, 3 frames that were in the box and a whole load of natural comb built in about 4 days all covered in some of the quietest bees I've had the pleasure of handling

we transfered the frames across into the new box

and here's a few of the stragglers

what surprised us most is that all 3 frames are full of nectar as was the natural comb, they must have gathered that in 4 days, it would have been rude not to sample some

a view in the orchard

and some emerging brood in one of my hives

 

[MrB]

nice story and some great pics!

 

[oliver90owner]

Great! Another beek who can now come off the 'first nuc or swarm' list!

Is the neighbour aware of his loss? Is the queen marked? How old? (may not need to re-queen if she has good provenance and is youngish), or may be good to breed with if she left for other than 'very swarmy nature'.

But just now, one very contented new beek!

Regards, RAB

 

[grizzly]

Nice one Taff.

I love natural comb, i keep nearly all i find, its great to show people and children.

 

[taff..]

Great! Another beek who can now come off the 'first nuc or swarm' list!

Is the neighbour aware of his loss? Is the queen marked? How old? (may not need to re-queen if she has good provenance and is youngish), or may be good to breed with if she left for other than 'very swarmy nature'.

But just now, one very contented new beek!

Regards, RAB

I don't know who has lost this swarm, there is a number of possibilities including a feral colony living in the farmhouse chimney, we didn't spot a queen, although we did have a good look through the frames we weren't overly concerned knowing that we may have been dealing with a virgin.

the priority was to get them out of the nuc, which happened to be absolutely chock a block with stores, into a full brood box.

But just now, one very contented new beek!

positively elated, and a little grateful that they are quite a few miles away from his home to stop him from fiddling with them every day

 

[darrenperrett]

Well done Taff & welcome to the club Foobaamagic

Darren

 

[Haughton Honey]

Brilliant brilliant photos.

A pleasure to look and read.

 

[Mike a]

Taff

Great pictures.

Did you taste the honey in the comb?

and finally welcome to the TBH club. Who needs frames huh? the bees dont !!

 

[dolbz]

Love the pictures, what kind of camera do you use?

Hey if you have any more swarms feel free to send them my way

 

[taff..]

thanks all

Taff

Great pictures.

Did you taste the honey in the comb?

and finally welcome to the TBH club. Who needs frames huh? the bees dont !!

we certainly did taste it,

foobaamagic cut off the small piece of the comb in the tupperware box to take home, I'm still picking wax out of my teeth this morning

the rest of the comb was placed in an eke above the crown board to allow the bees to clean it out.

Love the pictures, what kind of camera do you use?

Hey if you have any more swarms feel free to send them my way

I have a Canon 400D, I really need a macro lense to get any closer than these photo's but they are just too damned expensive

 

[weatherman1200]

look on ebay for the macro lense

 

[Norm]

I have a Canon 400D, I really need a macro lense to get any closer than these photo's but they are just too damned expensive

I have the same camera and I found this screw on adapter to turn my standard lens into a macro. I know it won't be a mile from anything like finest quality but at just a few quid, it sure fits the pocket!

 

[taff..]

look on ebay for the macro lense

I have done quite a few times, as well as on photography forums etc, they do tend to hold their value extremely well.

I have the same camera and I found this screw on adapter to turn my standard lens into a macro. I know it won't be a mile from anything like finest quality but at just a few quid, it sure fits the pocket!

I havn't seen those before, i'd only seen the spacers you put in between the body and the lense, but with most of those you lose the AF and aperture control