Nakedapiarist
House Bee
- Joined
- May 13, 2015
- Messages
- 142
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Birmingham
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 2
Until I had bees it'd been years since I'd seen a swarm. I had the embarrassment of my own bees ending up in a neighbours tree a few weeks ago and this weekend I was called to two swarms.
I immediately checked my own hives - no sign of swarming there, the only colony with a queen cell is the one I've split and I seem to have the usual number of bees. Also, my bees aren't that yellow.
First swarm was a PITA - same tree as mine ended up in but very high up, on several branches and huge - I called in help from the swarm hotline for that, took us a failed attempt on Saturday then an another go on Sunday morning to get them down.
Second swarm, just as I was settling down to do some DIY on a wall about 10m from the tree and easy to get to. For those I just swept them into the box I was using as swarm trap ( baited with lemongrass oil )
So why these two swarms so close to me? I'm adamant they're not mine and the swarm coordinator that came out agrees with me.
I'm getting to know the locals quite well....
I immediately checked my own hives - no sign of swarming there, the only colony with a queen cell is the one I've split and I seem to have the usual number of bees. Also, my bees aren't that yellow.
First swarm was a PITA - same tree as mine ended up in but very high up, on several branches and huge - I called in help from the swarm hotline for that, took us a failed attempt on Saturday then an another go on Sunday morning to get them down.
Second swarm, just as I was settling down to do some DIY on a wall about 10m from the tree and easy to get to. For those I just swept them into the box I was using as swarm trap ( baited with lemongrass oil )
So why these two swarms so close to me? I'm adamant they're not mine and the swarm coordinator that came out agrees with me.
I'm getting to know the locals quite well....