Beatrice swarmed

Ok so even though last week we only saw queen cups - either we missed something important or they have been very busy.

Next door neighbours called to say they had been troubled with swarms yesterday and then the swarm came back today and poor neighbour couldn't get out of the house because the bees were settling in the tree by the front door.

By the time I got organised they were off again in the middle of the main road where a lot got killed by passing cars.  Eventually the stopped in this bush.

I got them safely in a box and Gill arrived we went to inspect the hives.  Connie are on the verge of swarming so my plan is to do an artificial swarm on Sunday evening.   I saw eggs so they have not gone yet.  Beatrice had no eggs an approx. 12 capped queen cells - that is some going for a weeks work.   Adele were just plain nasty and we retrieved the entrance block and retired without an inspection again.  I'm just going to have to get brave one day soon!

Here I am making a spectacle of myself on the Kenilworth Road.

  The swarm have gone to live in Barston for the time being until they go to a good home.

Hive inspections

Eventually managed to do hive inspections on Beatrice and Connie.  Beatrice, eggs, larvae and brood but very few stores and none capped over for storage.  Hive feels very light.
Connie eventually managed to see some eggs and larvae lots of capped over brood - very few stores none capped at all.  Put an application of hive clean on both hives.

Connie's brood box and replacing the frames

 Bees were very active and relaxed Beatrice - a bit more active in Connie but then we decided to open Adele and have a quick look and they were horrid.   The smoker had almost gone out which didn't help.  By about the fourth frame I had god stung and we put on some hive clean, shut up shop and retired!

Last night and eventually got another gallon of sugar syrup on each hive - hopefully the weather will improve now and we won't need to feed anymore.

Adele Hive update

As you can see still some bees in the roof but not as many as there were.

Still loads on the crown board though and too many I thought to put on a contact feeder.

This was how it looks the next day when I popped up to put on a super to try and give these bees some more room.  A lot more bees had gone down into the hive.

With my usual lack of timing I opened the hive just as it decided to hail - so slapped the super on and shut the hive up sharpish.

I will try and feed them this evening hopefully the eke will be cleared of bees by then.  In fact the sun came out this afternoon and bees were everywhere feeding from the water in the garden and charging out from the hives in huge numbers.

Bailey Comb change - final stage

So on Thursday afternoon we found a small window of no rain and attempted to complete our Bailey Comb change on Adele hive.

It has been so wet that the hive was full of bees and no bees out foraging at all so we put the new brood box on a clean floor on the new hive stand and removed the old brood box and old hive stand and replaced the new hive back in its original position because you can only move a bee hive less that a foot or more than a mile.   The old hive was full of bees so because every where was so wet and too wet for the bees to fly we decided to shake and brush them onto the crown board of the hive.

We didn't want to leave the old hive out and encourage robbing or for it to start raining and the bees not manage to get into the new hive but I'm not sure now that was the right thing to do because I popped down to the hive tonight to feed them and found loads of bees clinging to the roof of the hive and all in the eke above the crown board.

If think I need to put a super on to give these bees somewhere to go.  Perhaps there is not enough space in the one brood box for them all.  Perhaps they have been rejected by the other bees as not a part of the hive because they did not enter through the entrance but appeared on the crown board although surely they will have the same smell?

The trouble is the books don't actually tell you how to manage the manipulations they just give you the basic principle and of course things are always much more complicated especially when you are trying to do hive manipulations in these weather conditions.

I am feeding bees in May while the rapeseed is in flower - how bonkers is that??