Greetings from Cork

[EastCorkBeekeeper]

Hi,

I'm Sarah, a new beekeeper from Cork in Ireland. I've had a hive for less than 24 hours and I fear I'm about to lose them!

I'm a member of my local bee keeping association and I've attended their apiary and talks for a few months.

Yesterday I got very lucky, I got a swarm that had moved into a food compost bin that hadn't been collected for a few weeks. The waster management company phoned a local keeper who in turn offered me the swarm. He also has so kindly given me a starter hive. Last night, with the help of that keeper, I moved them to their new home. My hive is in a gorgeous old walled garden - another stroke of luck that the owner of the land would like bees to help her crops and flowers but doesn't have the time to care for them. We left the bees in the nuc over night. We left a clean drawn frame and some of their own honey comb cut from the bin lid. However, we didn't have the feeding accessory for the nuc so this morning we moved them into the hive itself. We left drawn comb, put some of their honeycomb in frames and added a sugar feeder with a 1:1 mixture. We gently shook and brushed the bees in. I left the nuc on its side with the lid acting as a ramp to the hive entrance for the last few bees. It started heavily raining shortly after and when I came back a few hours later expecting to retrieve an empty nuc to my horror I found loads of bees back in it. This time I shook or brushed every single one into the hive and removed the nuc from the site. But I'm worried that the bees are so unimpressed they're thinking of swarming in the rain?! There are 3 days of bad weather forecast. The site is sheltered from the worst of the weather but I didn't expect bees to want to fly in the rain. We haven't seen the queen yet and I don't really want to upset the hive by opening it in the rain to try find her. Do you think my newbie luck has run out?!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Maybe the queen was in the nuc which is why they went back there.
Now that you’ve taken the box away you stand a better chance of keeping them
You do need to tidy up inside to stop them building wild comb everywhere.
Welcome by the way.

 

[EastCorkBeekeeper]

Maybe the queen was in the nuc which is why they went back there.
Now that you’ve taken the box away you stand a better chance of keeping them
You do need to tidy up inside to stop them building wild comb everywhere.
Welcome by the way.

Ok great, hopefully this time I have her jn the hive. I have their wild comb on a frame with elastic bands to keep it in place. There's some larve on it. Would you still remove it? Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated !

 

[Erichalfbee]

If the frames are tied in then leave them alone.

 

[hemo]

Bees are quite resilient to some of our hamfistedness, to a point they will fly in rain. If three days of poorer weather is due then it will give them time to settle in, they have some feed so should be ok for food .

As long as the Q is fine they should be ok, apart from checking feed I would just leave them to it for a week or two.

 

[Garry R]

And if they have brood too that will help them remain to help raise them. They are not keen to abandon brood usually and if the queen is there you are likely on a winner.

 

[rook66]

You are doing fine, try and resist the urge to look inside, leave them be for a few days until you see pollen going in,

 

[drex]

Well done. It looks to me like you have done everything you could and were taught. Personally I would have removed the nuc after putting the bees into the full hive, but that aside, spot on.
Now, leave them alone for a week, and stop worrying. Enjoy your journey

 

[EastCorkBeekeeper]

Thanks all for the encouraging messages. Unfortunately when I went back a week later the bees had swarmed. My first taste of the low of beekeeping. I'm resolved to keep learning, I'm helping another local learner (he's a year ahead of me) and go to my association meetings. I'm finding this forum a wonderful source of knowledge too. Next spring I'll set up for 2 hives and hope to get a better result.

My takeaway from my first few months of beekeeping (or failed keeping) is that I've met with incredible kindness: from the gorgeous gardens to keep hives in, to the afore mentioned local learner who has given me time, equipment and indeed the swarm. My local club ran great educational days in the club apiary too where two very busy commercial keepers gave time every Saturday for weeks to help us learn, their decades of experience shining through. Top that off with the world of insight on here and I'm feeling very grateful.

Now if I could just manage to actually keep those bees...

 

[Malcolm B.]

You'll be fine. Don't worry.
Welcome to the Forum.
Malcolm B.

 

[user 23149]

It's always about learning! They don't do what the books say most of the time... I have yet to do a successful demaree! LOL! Every day is a school day in the fascinating world of (*expletive*) bees. Do the best you can, keep reading and keep chatting to other beekeepers. It's good you have someone to shadow, that will come in very handy! They are as fascinating as they can be frustrating but I love it!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I have yet to do a successful demaree!

maybe you've been told the wrong way?
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/demaree.46464/

 

[user 23149]

maybe you've been told the wrong way?
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/demaree.46464/

There is some new/useful information there, thanks! However, I think based on that information, I was starting too late (swarm cells spotted) and I didn't have a second entrance at the top. The last time I did a demaree, I did go up regularly and knock down QCs as recommended but they took eggs up to the top box anyway and, 3 weeks later, I found one or two charged queen cells in the top box (but no other brood). Those naughty girls do like to keep us guessing!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I think based on that information, I was starting too late (swarm cells spotted) and I didn't have a second entrance at the top.

The second entrance doesn't really matter,but the advice to start after finding queen cells is totally wrong. George Demaree never used an upper entrance, and I doubt he ever went back after day seven to tear down any queen cells - having no upper entrance any virgin would remain so anyway.