Two swarms in one day

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Mike a

Drone Bee
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
Messages
1,785
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Location
Hampshire
Hive Type
Langstroth
Number of Hives
Between 17-20
I've been mentoring a couple who have a hive at my apiary. A while ago I advised them to put their spare hive out in their back garden as a bait hive. I got a call from them saying a swarm descended into their garden and entered their hive.

Then at about midday my mobile and then my home phone rang, my mum told me about a swarm in one of her friends gardens. 20 minutes later armed with a camera top bar nuc I'm smiling from ear to ear even though it is only looks like a small cast. (Queen not seen)

Every swarm collectors dream as they were less than 2 feet off the floor.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mikesbeekeeping/SwarmJune2010#

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:coolgleamA:
 
Great stuff :)
 
Forgot to add

They swarmed on the 1st May with a similar size cluster which was collected by another keeper, then they tried to swarm again yesterday but returned to the hive after 2 hours which upset the beek who came to try and collect them.

Today
By the time I arrived today at about 12:30 they had been out for about 2.5 hours.

They came from a feral colony who have been in an old decorative chimney pot at the bottom of the garden for about 3 years. Each year they have thrown 2-3 swarms of roughly equal sizes. As this is their 2nd swarm of the year I'm not holding my breath if their queen has mated or even if there is a queen after they returned to the parent colony so quickly yesterday but I'll put in a frame of eggs, larvae & sealed brood upside down on board over the mesh floor tomorrow to see if I can persuade them to hang about.
bee-smillie
 

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