- Joined
- Jan 1, 2018
- Messages
- 4,695
- Reaction score
- 4,397
- Location
- Fernhurst Sussex
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 40 plus 23 that I maintain for clients.
A friend of mine has a small woodland with a semi derelict hut on it. He noticed recently that some bees were taking an interest in the void below the roof and asked if I would put a bait hive up as he didn't want bees to set up home in the hut as he has plans to reverb it.
I set up a bait hive and over the season I have picked up 3 prime swarms in the same box.
After looking on google earth and seeing what looked like hives I investigated further and found that a local commercial concern had about 40 hives 100yrds from the hut. I'm pretty sure that all three swarms were from this apiary as the scouts all came and went in that direction.
Now the question, is it usual for a commercial beekeeper to not mark or clip their queens? All swarms had laying unmarked queens!
I heard from one of the health food shops I supply that the apiary owner likes to keep the bees as "natural" as possible!
I set up a bait hive and over the season I have picked up 3 prime swarms in the same box.
After looking on google earth and seeing what looked like hives I investigated further and found that a local commercial concern had about 40 hives 100yrds from the hut. I'm pretty sure that all three swarms were from this apiary as the scouts all came and went in that direction.
Now the question, is it usual for a commercial beekeeper to not mark or clip their queens? All swarms had laying unmarked queens!
I heard from one of the health food shops I supply that the apiary owner likes to keep the bees as "natural" as possible!