silly season is apon us

[hedgerow pete]

well by lunch time today i have recieved 14 phone calls about bee swarms all but two of them are classic bumble bee or wasps.

the one bee swarm is in someones wall 18 foot off the ground and they dont want when i asked to have the outside wall dismantled and rebuilt to collect them so pesto is going to deal with them and the second one is one from a few years back that moved into a guys roof void over his bedroom window abouve a bay window so there is no loft access, at the time 3 years ago he did not want to pay to deal with it so tried getting a friend to spray it!!!!

any way it either survived or a new lot has moved into the old existing nest ( the main problem with fly spray is it leaves the nest behind to attract others)

so this time around he will have to bite the bullet and pay for a tower scaffold to go up so i can get to it and bash a big hole in the front to get at the nest and then pay to have it repaired afterwards.

is anyone else getting silly phone calls or is just me??

 

[Mike a]

I've had three phone calls so far which have all been solitary bees.
We have lots of new association members waiting for swarms but other than the swarm that flew into my bait hive its been very quiet.

 

[TOBY-3652]

Its not just you i had 3 yesterday. A wasps nest???? You sure i said yes i know what a wasp looks like.. I was on my way past called in and bingo she was wrong solitary bees...

 

[Poly Hive]

Nothing here at all yet. (whew)

PH

 

[jezd]

lol, it just occurred to me that all this talk of swarming that I should be checking my hives oops, still seems early for here mind

 

[Juststarting]

I'm waiting for the talk tomorrow on what to do to avoid swarming.

Good job the speaker's on top of things!

 

[phillisb]

you too busy getting your performance ready for tomorrow,i bet!

 

[Otleybee]

Mine swarmed on Sunday in West Yorkshire. Thankfully it was on a weekend and when they settled they were in a catchable place. I had actually done an AS the day before but HM was determined to have a day out!

I united them with a failing hive and hey presto another productive colony. I only hope that there are mature drones around when the new queens hatch!!

 

[nottingham]

Here in the East Midlands last year we had no April showers and so far this year very little rain. We also have had the hottest March on record this year. In 20 years time spring may no longer exist. 1 out of 4 seasons lost for ever. Winter/Summer/Autumn and no Spring to speak of. I mean Spring might only last 2 weeks a year and less rain fall each Spring.

What might that do to some of the seasonal flowers?

 

[merylvingien]

Nothing here yet apart from mining bees, masonary bees, queen wasps aplenty and paniking people.

I had a feeling that last weekend i would get a swarm call, but nout, nuffing.

Dont forget to get yourself registered on the swarm collection list. Just google "bee swarm collectors uk"

 

[YorkshireBees]

Two calls so far, one yesterday and another today. Both cases of existing colonies in walls cavities or in the 2nd case may even be under the roof tiles.

In both cases pretty hopeless as impossible to get to.

Personally I predict the 1st real swarm call in my area will probably come the next time the temp hits 18-20degs. Probably not till at least next week.
I remember last year a cold spell at the end of April / beginning of May and then 2 hot days and loads of swarms!

 

[Mike a]

Just had a call from a gentleman in Eversley Cross of approx a large football sized swarm if combined in a pub car park. By the sounds of what he was saying they landed as one and are now in three separate clusters all within 5 feet of each other. Gave him the number of a swarm collector from Reading BKA.

So apologies if you live locally and you find your hive is a little light on your next inspection.

 

[Gardenbees]

One of my colonies (the one *without* any obvious queen cells, of course, i.e. the one I didn't suspect...) swarmed yesterday. I caught it and put them into the new 14x12 box which I'd been saving to shook swarm them into today, so hopefully no harm done. I put a frame of eggs and young brood in there with them just in case HM is damaged, and to encourage them to stay. They're still there this evening and have slapped a load of comb onto the frames already.

It's extremely swarmy weather considering the time of year: nearly 20C at my apiary today, and rather humid. I expect casts from the (very large) colony which swarmed, although I've tried to remove the remaining Q cells. But they just seem determined at the moment.