And then there were five

Another hive added to the Lush apiary

There was a time when, in my innocence, I thought that keeping bees meant I would get a nice little hive, check it once a week just to make sure it was coasting along nicely, and then at the end of the summer, I’d harvest a nice load of honey and all would be well until the following spring.

Yeah, right.

Last Friday was supposed to be a normal inspection, although I had enlisted the help of my lovely mentor because I was hoping to identify a couple of new queens – one from the swarm we picked up the previous week, and one in the original hive, which we had split earlier in June.

Another beautiful queen

Well, Patrick had other ideas, and I now have five hives, including a beautiful big swarm from a rather disturbed old couple in a nearby village. Not only do I have a fifth hive, but the swarm has already, in just four days, drawn out 11 frames of comb and presented me with a beautiful new queen.

So the adventure began at lunchtime when, instead of looking through my hives, Patrick got a call asking him to collect said swarm. As we were about to start on mine, he offered to take me along, and said I could keep the swarm as well. So off we went and arrived to find a very anxious old man waiting to show us the offending bees.

All those bees, sitting in the apple tree

The swarm was indeed very big, and sitting in a lovely little apple tree neighbouring the local school playground.

I can’t take credit for getting the swarm out of the tree, or indeed, getting it into a hive back at mine, but it was fascinating to watch how one shake of the branch dropped the whole lot of bees into the swarm box (within 15 minutes any stragglers were contained as well).

Once back at mine, we set up a brood box with 11 frames of wired foundation, along with a floor and a crown board and I watched as Patrick tipped the box on to a sheet, and with a sharp shake, they all dropped out. With a bit of encouragement, they all marched nicely into their new home.

Of course, at that point we didn’t know if there was a queen (although it was highly likely) or what state the colony was in.

Another milestone

One of the best parts for me, as a novice, was the moment when I put my hands in the bees and got a handful crawling over me. It’s something that I’ve watched people do and wanted to do for ages but never had a) the opportunity, or b) the balls to do. But as I crouched next to the sheet of bees and watched as Patrick ushered them in, I just wanted a go myself. I wasn’t feeling particularly brave, but as I felt them all crawling over my hands, it felt almost euphoric. And suddenly I realised how warm they feel as well. Like, almost hot.

So yesterday I went back to have a look and see what’s happening in the hive and bingo! there she is, a beautiful queen, with several frames of drawn comb already filled with the honey the bees brought with them. And possibly some evidence of her getting ready to lay.

The next job will be to get her clipped so that she can’t fly away. Then maybe a super, so that her workers have got enough room to store all that lovely pollen they’re bringing in.

And maybe I’ll branch out and start collecting swarms as well. Nothing like running before you can walk!!!

 

Three hives became four

So this morning saw another episode of bee excitement! The result is that I now have four hives, I’ve seen a beautiful swarm and I know that there are two new queens in the original hive.

I had absolutely no plans to look at the hives today, having had a quick look at the hive #2 on Monday, with the original Green Queen in it. All was well, and I thought that I had new queens in both the new hives, having seen one last Thursday, and thinking I’d seen a mating flight from the other one on Saturday.

But, as it happens I was at home (unexpectedly) and happened to glance out over the ‘apiary’ to see what I thought could have been a swarm, or could have been a mating flight. The action stopped after 20 minutes or so and I thought I saw them heading over the hedge into the scrub behind. So I got my wellies on and went to have a look, see if I could find them.

Not seeing anything in the hedge, I headed back in order to walk around the back and look in the trees and hedges there. I needn’t have bothered. As I was walking back along the ‘orchard’ I jumped out of my skin!! There was the most beautiful swarm, resting on one of Mr Lush’s tree protectors:

I wasn’t really sure what to do. I was really hoping to tackle any further issues that arose without any help, but the angle and placement of this little lot meant that I definitely couldn’t do it without help. I called Patrick, and he was ready, as always, to come along and help.

It wasn’t the easiest swarm to manage, being stuck on a stake and resting on both sides of the protective wire. But Patrick managed to shake most of the bees on to the ground, before putting a box over them. Then we just had to hope for the best – that they would march their way into the box.

In the meantime, we went to have a look at the other hives. First, the original hive, hive #1, which was the one that I thought the swarm had come from. (Patrick was still wondering if it was a swarm from somewhere totally different at this point). What we found here was amazing. There were two queens hatching as we watched! (maybe with a little bit of help). So eventually we threw them both in and closed the hive, leaving them to fight it out. May the best woman win, and I hope that will be the end of it – I just want to get on with proper beekeeping, ie, regular inspections, watching the colony grow, seeing a lot of nice honey being stored, etc, etc.

Once we’d inspected all the hives (the others were unremarkable), we took the nuc off the now-empty hive and set the hive to one side.

Gone are the days of neat paving slabs, set with a spirit level and dug nicely into the ground – today’s hive was just rested on the grass. It’s a bit wobbly, but it should be ok. For now.

We got the swarm, which had marched rather nicely into the box, and shook it into the hive. We quickly filled it with new frames fitted with waxed foundation and shut them up. They can get used to their new home for a few days before I feed them and have a little look at what is going on in there. You see, there was a dead one on the ground, so I’m not entirely sure that there was a queen, although they were hugging that stake rather tightly, so I’d like to think that there was a good reason for that!

So there you have it. One original hive, with two new queens battling it out for supremacy, one nuc box with an old Green Queen, one new hive with a new queen doing quite nicely, and one new hive with a swarm in it  – unknown and as yet undiscovered.