Any scouts at your swarm trap?

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As the saying goes ....'Always expect the unexpected!' - Set up my empty WBC as a bait hive, there seemed to be some interest ..... but not a lot. On Monday last I was checking the chickens when loud buzzing and lots of bees in the air near my hives attracted me over - to find a swarm sitting on the trunk of one of the pollarded willows just outside the apiary enclosure. Called my mentor for assistance (she dropped everything and came over), moved the WBC over to the tree and managed to knock the bees down onto my best John Lewis tablecloth (first thing I could grab!) the bees then walked up into the hive - fascinating. This left me with the hive balanced precariously on the edge of the ditch - to cut a long story short - managed to lift the hive up onto my garden trolley and am now in the process of moving it a little each day in order to get it into my enclosure - difficult as the ground is very uneven. However, so far so good, have a very dark queen and a good sized colony drawing out foundation rapidly. I now have a my poly nuc set up as a bait hive - as I said earlier 'Always expect the unexpected!' The only problem is I may need another WBC - this beekeeping lark is proving to be addictive!


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Really busy at my swarm trap now. Always find it exciting anticipating when they’ll arrive (or not as the case may be 😂)

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Looking very hopeful there - not so much as a sniff my way. You do have a certain reputation for catching multiple swarms each year to keep up!
 

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