Merioneth Beekeepers' Association

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Sunday 23 May 2010

Chris H writes: The bees are more settled today and foraging well, lots of pollen being collected so hopefully the queen is laying and there is brood in the hive. Still nervous about yesterday's attempt to abscond and spent lots of time popping out to check the hive. I was trying to think how I could alleviate my worries without opening the hive, as you know going into a warre is not quite as easy as lifting frames from the standard hives, and I didn't want to disturb the hive environment at this stage. A bit of lateral thinking later and I had the idea to use my camera phone which happily is slim enough to slide into the entrance of the hive without having to lift the hive boxes. I've included a couple of photographs to show how well it worked. I'm very pleased with the result and will be able to monitor the development of the hive as they start to build into box 2.

Saturday 22 May 2010

Chris H writes: The bees were out and about early but still seemed quite noisy and agitated so I decided to leave them for the rest of the day to get accustomed to their new home. Come mid-day and a quick peek into the garden saw a sky full of bees which alerted me to the fact that something was amiss. Quickly getting my bee suit on I went to investigate and noticed a group of queen attenders surrounding the queen on the floor just outside the hive! she was trying to abscond but having her wings clipped meant that she was unable to fly. I quickly grabed a feather and gently encouraged her onto it. Once she was placed by the entrance she scurried inside, soon followed by the flying bees. I quickly placed another warre box under the first and replaced the queen excluder over the entrance. I also noticed a piece of fallen comb on the hive floor but was unable to remove it. I made a quick call to Clive for moral support and some much welcomed advice.

Following discussion with Clive, emails to David and advice from the Warre yahoo group I think the problem was lack of space preventing them dealing with the hot weather. So lesson learnt is to ensure plenty of space when installing a split or swarm, I think two boxes should be my standard.

Friday 21 May 2010

Chris H writes: Collected my bees and single warre box from Clive and Shan's which was an experience as I forgot to take my bee suit or decent shoes. Crocs aren't recommended for bee keeping! The bees were well behaved and we (or more correctly Clive) eventually had them loaded into the back of the car and set off for home following a welcome cup of tea back at the house. Settled the hive into the back garden and left them to calm down for an hour before I went to take the bee security from the entrance. They still seemed quite upset and a good number flew out and went straight for the lights on the shed which I quickly turned off. They were then left to settle for the night.