I am sure that many of you will have been called upon to deal with
swarms before. Many of you may even have dealt with larger swarms than
this, but, for me this was a *BIG* swarm.
I was busy working on an MBA assignment around mid-morning yesterday
when the phone rang; a lady in a neighbouring village had a swarm in her
garden and could I please come and deal with it (sound familiar?). Well,
off I go with the usual bits and pieces in the boot of my car, confident
that it would be all wrapped up in 10-15 minutes. How wrong I was!
This swarm was easily 2 1/2 foot long, 18 inches wide, and 2 foot deep
with quite a few bees flying around the branch that they had alighted
on. It was a little too high to reach them with a step-ladder so we
borrowed an extension-ladder from a neighbour. I had brought a 6-comb
Langstroth swarm box to put them in but I thought a cardboard box would
be much easier to manouvre at the top of a ladder. Anyway, up the ladder
I went, suitably attired in veil and bee-suit, intending to give the
branch a thump and watch the bees drop en-masse into the cardboard box
below. Why is it that nothing ever goes as planned?
The first trip up the ladder I must have got about half of them into the
box. The rest of them either swung precariously on the branch or flew
into the air. I took my cargo back down the ladder, thumped the
cardboard box on the sides until the bees formed a nice big pile in the
middle. Then I took a few frames out of the swarm box and up-ended the
contents of the cardboard box into it. Easy.
It took me four more trips up that ladder to get all but the stragglers
into the swarm box. With the lid placed over the box at an angle to
allow fanning-bees to encourage the remainder into the box, I retired to
the shade for a drink (it was 33 degrees C !). I had another errand to
run so I left a manipulation cloth over the swarm box to provide a
little shade for the bees and promised to return a couple of hours
later. By that time, I knew that they would all be safely tucked-up
inside the box.
Upon my return, there were probably a dozen or so bees still flying
around the swarm box (which is about what I expected). I replaced the
lid and jammed a cork into the entrance hole (N.B. my swarm box has
adequate ventilation to prevent them from over-heating during
transport).
By the time I arrived at my apiary, about an hour later, this swarm had
already commenced work drawing out the five frames of foundation that I
had provided (the sixth frame being drawn out and containing unsealed
stores). I transferred them carefully into a spare hive which I had set
up about a week previously as a bait-hive and inserted the Bayvarrol
strips to test for varroa. Although I didn't see the queen during this
exercise, I suspect that she is present because they were so eager to
draw out the foundation ready for laying (it was half drawn-out by the
time I housed them in their new home). If, when I inspect them again in
about a week, there is no queen I intend to transfer a frame of eggs
from another colony so that they can raise their own.
This was the biggest swarm that I have ever dealt with and I was amazed
at how quickly they drew out the foundation. The lady who called me was
grateful to be rid of them (and suprised that I wouldn't accept payment)
but learned a lot about bees in the process. All-in-all, a good day!
--
Paul Walton
[log in to unmask]
Toddington, Bedfordshire, England.
Tel. +44 (0)1525 875570
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