Not sure what to do with a swarm of bees

[Surefire]

Gentlemen,

Whilst walking my dog on the park recently I came across the remains of a bee's nest which looks like it had been knocked out of a nearby tree. The bee's looked very wet and cold and unable to fly. Rather than leave them to their fate, I later returned with and empty shoe box and gently gathered up as many as I could (hoping I had the queen) and placed them on a bench at the side of my house. I covered the box in a plastic bag to keep the rain off, made a small hole so they could exit and enter and placed a small step over the whole thing to shade it from the sun and further protect it from the rain.
After an anxious night, I checked on them the next day to find quite a few bee's flying around the entrance hole.
I am not a bee keeper and although I love the little creatures I am unsure how to proceed. The box is obviously unsuitable long term, and I don't think I'm ready to begin bee keeping just yet. Could anyone here advise me what my options are. For example: are there any local bee keepers in my area of Nottingham Beeston who would take them off my hands? I would love to see them go to a good home and not perish as a result of my inexperience.
Thanks in anticipation.

PS just checked on them this afternoon and they seem pretty active

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Gentlemen,

Whilst walking my dog on the park recently I came across the remains of a bee's nest which looks like it had been knocked out of a nearby tree. The bee's looked very wet and cold and unable to fly. Rather than leave them to their fate, I later returned with and empty shoe box and gently gathered up as many as I could (hoping I had the queen) and placed them on a bench at the side of my house. I covered the box in a plastic bag to keep the rain off, made a small hole so they could exit and enter and placed a small step over the whole thing to shade it from the sun and further protect it from the rain.
After an anxious night, I checked on them the next day to find quite a few bee's flying around the entrance hole.
I am not a bee keeper and although I love the little creatures I am unsure how to proceed. The box is obviously unsuitable long term, and I don't think I'm ready to begin bee keeping just yet. Could anyone here advise me what my options are. For example: are there any local bee keepers in my area of Nottingham Beeston who would take them off my hands? I would love to see them go to a good home and not perish as a result of my inexperience.
Thanks in anticipation.

PS just checked on them this afternoon and they seem pretty active

I suspect you have found bumblebees not honey bees. If you google the Bumblebee Conservation Trust you will be able to identify if they are bumbles of one sort or another.
If it turns out you have actually got honey bees please come back and ask again. It would be surprising if honey bees in the box as they would normally return to their original site unless they had just swarmed.

 

[REDWOOD]

Not so sure, I picked up a tiny swarm last year that looked like a sodden cow pat on the lawn, the owner of the property the bees were on, said he only found them because he was wondering what the dog was barking at, so I placed a cardboard box over them and a bin bag over that and made a small hole just like the poster and the next day when I looked they were in one top corner of the box. The colony was too small to get going, the queen never mated so I shook the remaining bees in front of another larger swarm that was in a nuc.

 

[Surefire]

They are definitely honey bees

 

[MartinL]

Can you take a picture?

I'm sure if you can identify them as Honey bees, some keen to be beekeeper will bite your hand off.


If not;
http://bumblebeeconservation.org/

 

[MerryBee]

Well if you are certain they are honeybees, you can find your nearest swarm collector by going to the BBKA website and putting in your postcode.

 

[BeeJayBee]

are there any local bee keepers in my area of Nottingham Beeston who would take them off my hands? I would love to see them go to a good home and not perish as a result of my inexperience.

Yes, there are likely to be some beekeepers in your area. You could contact your local beekeeping association's secretary with a plea for help or, as MerryBee suggests, use the BBKA swarm collector's search site to find the nearest swarm collector. They'll probably have a nuc ready to take bees.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

They are definitely honey bees

Having established that you have honey bees in your box you can contact your local (google) beekeeping association for help (or a forum member reading this thread might send you a private message? )
You could of course ask down at the local if anyone nearby keeps bees and wants to pick up a swarm in a box already.

 

[mike46]

'have the bees got a new home yet?

I live local to you and my brother keeps bees. He works though and I couldn't contact him until this evening.

 

[abm]

Plenty of Beeks in Notingham.. have you tried there website ?