Manchester Cathedral Apiary; By Appointment

[Minxpinx]

I love that they clustered on a cross - holy bees indeed

 

[itma]

Ok, how many things did I get wrong?

1/ Box should be labelled "St Ambrose" (not St Patrick)
2/ ...


I really like using a polynuc as my 'skep'.
I fix the entrance disc as QX and empty the thing before trying to take the swarm.
Once down the ladder, I can just gently add some frames and carefully close the lid.
The bees know pretty swiftly whether Q is in the box or not. If she is inside, not many bees leave and there is a lot of fanning at the entrance, leading to an inward flow. If she isn't in there, the outward flow of bees builds to a stampede.
When it gets dark (or comes on to rain ... Manchester!), so as many of the bees as possible are 'at home', the entrance is changed to vent and the box is taken away. (Only thing to watch out for is any bees under the box - I have been there...) When they have been placed in their new home, they don't need to be "hived", just opened to QX for 24/48 hours, then properly opened. In the fullness of time, the frames get transferred into the new hive very simply.


My polynucs are from Paynes. I block off the integral feeder entirely with a long strip of sponge so absolutely no bees get into it - important for swarm collection. A shorter foam strip under the entrance avoids bees undershooting the entrance and minimises the chance of any on the outside of the mesh floor.
I gather that the Maisemore one needs the QX slots widened before using that setting of their disc.