OP
Not far off you I would imagine.
Made a big mistake today so thought I would share for those of limited experience as a cautionary tale.
Went to get something from the container and noticed a lot of bees around hawthorn peeked around the corner and sure enough a big swarm. A bit surprised as looked at them on Saturday and didn't see it coming.
Anyway had a choice of cardboard box or put one of the nucs in a brood box and use a nuc, I choose latter and put in a couple of old frames that had some stores in them.
Off I went with saw and into the hawthorn, couldn't really get under them and spread over a few branches so decided to take them piece meal sawing the branches it took 3 goes at them, put the entrance cover on queen excluder part. Had to stop to let golfers by and even got stung myself so it took a good while. I eventually got them done and back to site, stopped for a drink and found which one it came out of, it was a double brood which I didn't see any cells in on Saturday, there were a few on one frame not sealed unfortunately stuck to bottom frame so came apart when I removed frame, thought thats them gone so checked bottom box (most people say cells only in top) there was one charged on bottom frame so put it back together.
I then went on to put stand floor queen excluder etc at the other end of the apiary to their original position and prepared to move them into the new box. On opening the nuc I discovered with the heat the bees had cooked, the honey had melted and it was a mass of sticky dead bees with a few still alive, looked through them couldn't see the queen.
I must be honest it never crossed my mind they would cook a combination of the size of swarm, small box and honey in the old frames, more experienced beeks would of no doubt realised but I will know better next time. Many ifs or buts, no frames, no honey, could of used the cardboard box, not stopped for a drink, not taken so long etc.
Its a real shame a colony and good queen just wasted, it wasn't a pretty sight. It wasn't something I even thought could happen, obviously hindsight is a wonderful thing I hope any of you with similar level of experience take heed and don't make the same mistake.
Made a big mistake today so thought I would share for those of limited experience as a cautionary tale.
Went to get something from the container and noticed a lot of bees around hawthorn peeked around the corner and sure enough a big swarm. A bit surprised as looked at them on Saturday and didn't see it coming.
Anyway had a choice of cardboard box or put one of the nucs in a brood box and use a nuc, I choose latter and put in a couple of old frames that had some stores in them.
Off I went with saw and into the hawthorn, couldn't really get under them and spread over a few branches so decided to take them piece meal sawing the branches it took 3 goes at them, put the entrance cover on queen excluder part. Had to stop to let golfers by and even got stung myself so it took a good while. I eventually got them done and back to site, stopped for a drink and found which one it came out of, it was a double brood which I didn't see any cells in on Saturday, there were a few on one frame not sealed unfortunately stuck to bottom frame so came apart when I removed frame, thought thats them gone so checked bottom box (most people say cells only in top) there was one charged on bottom frame so put it back together.
I then went on to put stand floor queen excluder etc at the other end of the apiary to their original position and prepared to move them into the new box. On opening the nuc I discovered with the heat the bees had cooked, the honey had melted and it was a mass of sticky dead bees with a few still alive, looked through them couldn't see the queen.
I must be honest it never crossed my mind they would cook a combination of the size of swarm, small box and honey in the old frames, more experienced beeks would of no doubt realised but I will know better next time. Many ifs or buts, no frames, no honey, could of used the cardboard box, not stopped for a drink, not taken so long etc.
Its a real shame a colony and good queen just wasted, it wasn't a pretty sight. It wasn't something I even thought could happen, obviously hindsight is a wonderful thing I hope any of you with similar level of experience take heed and don't make the same mistake.
