Our friend Eric gave us a nucleus colony of bees on May 26th. Eric even helped with the transfer into the top bar hive which meant cutting the combs to fit (poor bees)!
The weather has been exceptionally good since then and on July 8th this colony swarmed.
The swarm in the bottle brush / Callistemon shrub.
I put them in this 30 litre bait hive but they did not seem settled.
I transferred them after 2 or 3 hours into an unfinished top bar hive.
They were very happy with this.
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One of the most interesting aspects I am discovering as a new beekeeper is sensing the mood of a colony based on their sound. It is amazing how effectively bees communicate by the tone of their buzz. A swarm is a most magical sight and sound. As they have no hive, no brood and no honey to protect they have a very gentle nature. The sound of a swarm is a deeply harmonious hum.
(A swarm that is a few days old and not found a home yet could be in a different mood though).
Looking in the window after 6 days,
After 14 days I moved them into a finished top bar hive.
This is one of their combs pictured in the old hive during the transfer.
This is one of their combs after being placed in their new hive.
They built 13 combs in 14 days.
Tivon watching the entrance after helping to transfer another colony into another finished hive.
Honey bee on poached egg plant in June. They loved this plant.
Swarm at Honeyoak. June 2013.
A swarm like this which has just landed is like a new baby, and to be honest, I could hardly have been more excited!
Tivon looking at 2 combs from the little swarm. They are still in a bait hive.
The hives outside the kitchen window.
The 2nd finished top bar hive, 2 periscope entrances and deep floor.
The 3rd finished top bar hive with periscope entrance!
Looking inside at the deep floor before it is filled.
Looking underneath at the exterior finish of the deep floor.
Looking inside the 2nd hive with deep floor, filled with chipped apple and hazel branches.
This was just before we moved the bees in.
The pond, levels are down with the drought but the bees are loving the good weather.
They built 13 combs in 14 days.
Honey bee on poached egg plant in June. They loved this plant.
Swarm at Honeyoak. June 2013.
A swarm like this which has just landed is like a new baby, and to be honest, I could hardly have been more excited!
The bait hive was waiting in the eaves of the barn in case I had missed seeing the swarm....
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I brought the bait hive down to the swarm as we don't have another hive ready yet.
The branch they were on is cut and gently placed into the bait hive.
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Here is the little swarm settling in to their new home.
After
2 weeks I take a look at the first few combs and see brood, This means
that the virgin queen that came with the swarm has mated successfully.
This is a wonderful start!
Our friend Mike gave us a loan of a bee suit in Tivons size, (as well as the loan of his hive while he is away).
Unfortunately we have made the bees a bit cross with some of the moving around so the bee suit has been useful.
Edit .... All the colonies and swarms in 2013 built up well and successfully overwintered, going on to swarm themselves the following year.
Angus has been busy building all 3 hives and 2 bait hives these last couple of months. The materials for the 3 main hives cost 50 euro each. Most of the cost was the 1 inch thick dry cedar from our local sawmill for the hive body and the roof pieces. Angus used odd bits of timber that we already had for the rest of the hive.
This was just before we moved the bees in.
