More good fortune........

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Dazzabee

House Bee
Joined
May 25, 2010
Messages
112
Reaction score
0
Location
Thurrock, Essex
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
11, mix of National & 14x12 + 2 Nuc
I must have pleased some beekeeping god somewhere as I had another bit of good fortune yesterday.

On Sunday evening at 6pm I was called to collect a swarm which was on Someones shed. I arrived 10 mins later to see the tail end of the swarm entering the air brick of the house and into the cavity underneath the floor. Damn too late........

The home owner was desperate for me to try something so to appease them and in shear hope (not expecting any result) I told them I'd leave a nuc next to the air brick in the hope that i could entice them out again. In the Nuc was a bait hive style set up of 1 x old comb frame and 5 foundation frames with a little splash of lemon grass oil. I did not expect it to work but thought what have i to lose. The pic shows the air brick at the bottom next to the wall and my home made ply nuc box.

I went back yesterday and the home owner said they think it had worked! They explained that on Monday lunchtime they noticed the bees leaving the air brick in large no's and entering the 14x12 nuc. I opened it up to find bees covering 5 & 1/2 x frames having already drawn 4 additional frames and with eggs and queen present on one of the frames.

I really don't know what Ive done to deserve such luck this year and if anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation then give it a try, you never know........
 
Hi Dazz,
Tried it once with an established colony and it did not work, so I am very pleased to read about your result. Shall make sure that I always have a nuc rigged up for that purpose now!
 
in the words of "life of Brian"
you lucky lucky bar steward

Haha i know :)

And even better the colony swarmed from a feral colony that lives in the chimney. That colony has been there for years apparently and will be staying put.

So I have agreed with the home owner to place a bait hive out nearby for future swarms.
 
Well done.

All down to the skill of the beekeeper ...
 
Well done and interesting result. From Tom Seeley's work that suggests the scouting doesn't cease abruptly. I'm guessing you would have to get a better alternative nearby before any eggs are laid.
 
Well done and interesting result. From Tom Seeley's work that suggests the scouting doesn't cease abruptly. I'm guessing you would have to get a better alternative nearby before any eggs are laid.

Plenty of people who recommend queen excluders under newly hived swarms and others reporting, hives the swarm and two days later all gone. Not exactly the same as a swarm moving into a selected cavity over been walked into one but goes to show they are perhaps still looking just in case something better comes along in the short term.
 
It's nice to have a bit of luck. It makes up for what you lose.

My bee buddy stored one of our empty hives in his car port, about 4 miles from where we keep our bees, with no thought of it being a bait hive. Two weeks ago he arrived home to find a cast had taken up residence. They've now been dummied down and moved to one of our sites.
 
... goes to show they are perhaps still looking just in case something better comes along in the short term.
Indeed, what Tom Seeley describes is a lobbying process where the bees make a collective decision and move off to their chosen home. I could see that if you pre-empted that by moving them to a box you chose by "collecting" the swarm the lobbying process would not be complete, there would still be scouts out there looking for prospective sites. Here we have a colony that presumably has made the choice themselves and moved. We know that smoking a newly arrived swarm can move them on, but here nothing much changed to the original site, just the arrival of a better one nearby.

Tom Seeley's observation is that at the point of moving the scouts are unanimous in the choice and commit to the new location. What we see here is after the time frame of his research. Even if the bees complete the process to choose a new location, and nothing changes to make the original choice less attractive, the colony can still reopen that decision process and move again.

There might be practical applications. The book process of collecting swarms is to get the bees in the skep, then wait until evening for the flying bees to return before moving the swarm to the new site. By waiting to move the whole colony, we move with it the bees which have been actively scouting. If those scouts decide on an alternative site next day, they may abscond. On the other hand, if we collect and move a swarm immediately, many scouts are still out and are lost to the colony. If there are fewer scouts, would that make them less likely to abscond from wherever we put them? You lose some colony strength in abandoning the scouts but might reduce the tendency to abscond. Just a thought in following through the logic.
 
Good points Allan and I really should get the book as swarming and scout bees interests me. I have for the past five years had a bait hive within sight of my work and it's surprising the ebb and flow of scouts checking it out over the season. This year at one time approx 25-30 scouts that built from 0 in a morning and I assumed a swarm is close by . I had to go out for a couple of hours and when I arrived the same bees but this time not typical scout activity but simply sitting or milling about the entrance, they now looked as though they were lost. The bees dwindled over next couple of days. My conclusion the swarm was collected and removed as the scouts were out and looking for a new home, on returning to the swarm with the good news found it had gone and simply returned to the bait hive hoping the swarm may arrive.
 
when your luck is in your ass will foal (ass being a male donkey)
 

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