Honey bees in compost bin

[PaleoPerson]

View attachment 6852
Had to remove some bees that have been using a compost bin since last year.

This was good fun.

The queen was seen and marked, some comb mounted in frames and us now in a hive
View attachment 6853

 

[tonybloke]

interesting photos, I've got to go out to bees in a compost bin tomorrow

 

[johnandyrob]

They seem to like compost bins I might start putting out bate bins instead of hives

 

[dickndoris]

Nice indeed. It makes me want to make one of them wild hives with the bars and let them make that wonderful curved comb.

 

[tonybloke]

bees had taken up residence in a compost bin, the allotment holder was shocked when he lifted the lid to find bees under the lid. he dropped the lid beside the compost bin, crushingthe comb (2 small pieces) this a.m. I gathered as many bees as I could, placed them in a 5 frame commercial nuc box, and placed this on top of the compost bin. bees seen fanning at entrance, hopefully got the queen in there. I'll leave 'til this evening, close 'em up and remove to out-apiaryhttp://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachhttp://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=6859&stc=1&d=1341314926ment.php?attachmentid=6858&stc=1&d=1341314926 site.

 

[Luminos]

Great photos

 

[tonel]

Quite interesting to see the different colouration of the bees in the last photo, some with orange bands and others that seem a lot darker with hardly any orange/yellow..would have thought they would be similar if from the same hive/swarm? Or does it happen due to new/different queen?

 

[VEG]

you can get quite a difference in bee colours in a hive as the queen mates with several different drones.

 

[Swarm]

Local mongrels, you quite often see variation.

Edit:
Looking at that comb, it was a shame to disturb them, stunning.