Well, the weather was improving, so took yesterday off to go through 6 colonies and a nuc. All well, but 2 colonies seem to be held back...no sign of varroa, or any other diseases. Strange. Still, the honey flow is on and strong and I never fail to get excited by the sight of fresh white wax on the top bars of the super frames as they draw them out.
This morning I collected a prime swarm collected by a friendly pest controller. I have learnt to my cost of loosinv a swarm by absconding in the past that hiving a swarm in the morning is fraught with challenges.
Therefore, I placed a zinc queen excluder above an open mesh floor, opened the box the swarm was in and surrounded it by a brood and a half box, and then placed a full brood chamber with foundation and 1 drawn frame above, topped off with a crown board, then a feeder with syrup and a super eke and roof.
My intention is the bees make their way up into the top chamber, then I can remove the box and brood and a half below, while making sure they don't abscond by use of the excluder. Fingers crossed, as bees never do as planned.....do they ? ;-)
This morning I collected a prime swarm collected by a friendly pest controller. I have learnt to my cost of loosinv a swarm by absconding in the past that hiving a swarm in the morning is fraught with challenges.
Therefore, I placed a zinc queen excluder above an open mesh floor, opened the box the swarm was in and surrounded it by a brood and a half box, and then placed a full brood chamber with foundation and 1 drawn frame above, topped off with a crown board, then a feeder with syrup and a super eke and roof.
My intention is the bees make their way up into the top chamber, then I can remove the box and brood and a half below, while making sure they don't abscond by use of the excluder. Fingers crossed, as bees never do as planned.....do they ? ;-)
