Salamagundy
House Bee
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2011
- Messages
- 159
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Carmarthenshire
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 10
All advice welcomed on the following:
In my third year. This is my fourth swarm. All the others have behaved as expected.
The hive swarmed on Saturday. I retrieved them and put them in a new box with foundation.
As I had run out of queen excluders (it's been manic here during the fine weather and I'm struggling to keep up - so different from last year) I made an entrance block with the same sized slot as a queen excluder.
The bees have swarmed again five times since then and returned each time, most recently ten minutes ago. They're going back in as I type this.
When the box is empty I can clearly see the queen being bossed around by half a dozen attendants.
I plan to put in a frame of BIAS and a frame of stores this afternoon to try and convince them to stay. Is this a sensible idea?
What else, if anything, should I do? What, in your experience, is the likely outcome?
Many thanks in advance for any comments.
In my third year. This is my fourth swarm. All the others have behaved as expected.
The hive swarmed on Saturday. I retrieved them and put them in a new box with foundation.
As I had run out of queen excluders (it's been manic here during the fine weather and I'm struggling to keep up - so different from last year) I made an entrance block with the same sized slot as a queen excluder.
The bees have swarmed again five times since then and returned each time, most recently ten minutes ago. They're going back in as I type this.
When the box is empty I can clearly see the queen being bossed around by half a dozen attendants.
I plan to put in a frame of BIAS and a frame of stores this afternoon to try and convince them to stay. Is this a sensible idea?
What else, if anything, should I do? What, in your experience, is the likely outcome?
Many thanks in advance for any comments.