First swarm and first bees.....!

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Haughton Honey

Drone Bee
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Location
South Cheshire
Hive Type
Commercial
Number of Hives
Lots of Commercial hives.......
I am finally a beek!!

After countless 'bumblebee calls' having placed a small ad in the local free buy/sell rag I got a call yesterday from a farmer over between Mold and Ruthin who said he'd seen a ball of bees hanging in a hedgerow whilst he was silaging. Would I like to collect them as he'd heard that bees were in decline?

So off I traipsed half-heartedly with a nuc box and other assortments and low and behold sat about 3ft off the ground in a hedgerow in the middle of a 20 acre field in 25c heat was a small swarm (perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 bees?). I'm presuming that they'll be a cast and will take a while to build up.

About 5 seconds later and one swift shake of the branch the whole lot fell in to the box, frames were inserted and off I went.....with a very broad smile.

I checked them this morning and they've now been fed 1:1 syrup and there appears to be constant traffic in and out of the nuc box, which is situated at the end of my parent's garden (lucky them!).

I think that they are Carny's as they're quite light - a lot lighter than AMM anyway - I will try and post a photo later on this evening.

Big thanks to the bee-friendly farmer.

:cheers2:
 
I am finally a beek!!

After countless 'bumblebee calls' having placed a small ad in the local free buy/sell rag I got a call yesterday from a farmer over between Mold and Ruthin who said he'd seen a ball of bees hanging in a hedgerow whilst he was silaging. Would I like to collect them as he'd heard that bees were in decline?

So off I traipsed half-heartedly with a nuc box and other assortments and low and behold sat about 3ft off the ground in a hedgerow in the middle of a 20 acre field in 25c heat was a small swarm (perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 bees?). I'm presuming that they'll be a cast and will take a while to build up.

About 5 seconds later and one swift shake of the branch the whole lot fell in to the box, frames were inserted and off I went.....with a very broad smile.

I checked them this morning and they've now been fed 1:1 syrup and there appears to be constant traffic in and out of the nuc box, which is situated at the end of my parent's garden (lucky them!).

I think that they are Carny's as they're quite light - a lot lighter than AMM anyway - I will try and post a photo later on this evening.

Big thanks to the bee-friendly farmer.

:cheers2:

My personal experience/lesson learnt with swarms is to always fit a QX bellow the brood box, swarms are flighty by nature :)

JEz
 
Thanks Jez - they're in a nuc box as they were a small swarm so putting a QX beneath them would be hard. The entrace to the nuc is also at the bottom too, which doesn't help.

Here's a photo of them anyway - they're very active in this heat and I've seen them all over the garden, which is great as I think I've seen about 2 bees this year so far!

Any ideas as to 'type' anyone?
 
Sorry folks - just seen Brian's black bee thread - seems they're Carnys!
 
Ooo, well done!!

Hubby and I collected 3 swarms last week - luckily we were on annual leave, and had the right weather for it!!
 
They are not Carnies,they are Italian cross local strain..
 
Ok Admin, thanks for that!
 
Sorry WPC,I have just noticed by post sounded a little short,thats the trouble with the Tinternet,sometimes posts can read different from what is intended.

I was offering my observation but it sounds like I barked..
 
Not at all. Taken as it was obviously meant! :)
 
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