View Full Version : Hiving a feral colony
I have been offered a feral colony in a neighbours compost bin. Great - I am short of colonies this year.
On looking at them today to make sure they weren't wasps, find sure enough they are just what I want. A bit much yellow in them maybe but some genetic variation will do no harm. The main problem is that their entrance is at the bottom of the compost bin and they have built their combs up the side of some very loose compost.
Has anyone any suggestion as to how to hive the little darlings. I have frames ready to add strings to to hold the natural comb/brood and then put into a nuc. This of course will disturb the whole colony into a flying mass.
How do I get them into the nuc plus comb/brood?
POPZ
gavin
04-09-2012, 05:36 PM
Quite a challenge to pull this off at this time of year on a windy isle! Feeding them in the compost bin sounds impossible. Do they have lots of stores? Leaving until spring might be easier if so. I managed to get a couple of wayward combs into frames this summer using rubber bands, but I don't have a lot of experience of that. Strings might be easier. You end up crushing stuff top and bottom to make it fit. Combs shorter than the frame depth are hard to deal with - do you have a plan for them?
Gavin - great to hear from you.
Do I have plans? You bet, loads and loads of them especially after my experiences of converting TBH combs to national - lots of MESS!!! But aside from that is the most important thing to get right, namely how do I get the little darlings plus her majesty into a nuc with the already inserted combs. They will all be flying around like crazy having had their nest completely destroyed.??
gavin
04-09-2012, 07:22 PM
The pleasure is all mine, POPZ.
That last bit the bees will sort for themselves if you don't make it too difficult for them.
Transfer the comb with bees on I'd have thought. Take care though, you'll (probably) have only one queen. Shift the compost bin to one side and put the nuc box where it sat. Brush some of the spare bees in. The huge fuss will encourage lots of workers to fan at the entrance and as long as it is not too far from the original entrance the bees will go in.
Good luck, Popz! Fancy taking a photo before you start so we can put it in Beezzzzzzzz Knezzzzzzzzzzzzz?
Trog - piccies yes. I will take some as I think it is rather an interesting composition - lovely comb plus ladies squeezed in between a plastic bin wall and a load of rotting compost. And where have these yellow ladies come from I ask myself - rather small but very friendly?
Sounds fascinating, Popz and I can't wait to see the photos! Where are they from? Well, several swarms were lost in your neck of the woods over the years (we were called out to some near where yours are years ago) so maybe ferals. That's the beauty of living in a varroa free zone: ferals tend to survive!
lindsay s
04-09-2012, 11:06 PM
I was called out to help with bees in a compost bin in early September 2010. By the time I had arrived two of my beekeeping friends had already moved the bees out of the bin. As you can see in the photos the bees had built their comb on the under side of the upside down lid. There was also a bit of comb on the topside of the bin.
My friends tied the comb as best they could to some empty brood frames. That’s me in the green jacket looking at their handy work. The bees were very gentle and had come from a nearby apiary, we contacted their owner and he came and took them away. I forgot to ask him if the bees survived that winter.
The owner of the compost bin took the photos.
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Nice looking bees and a good brood pattern so hopefully they survived the winter.
GRIZZLY
05-09-2012, 02:24 PM
Popz.From the sound of it you have a topbar hive.What about putting them in that in the interim.Would give you a little while to sort them out properly.
Orkney, too, then? Maybe it's a habit of island bees!
More likely you get more ferals where varroa hasn't arrived.
Popz.From the sound of it you have a topbar hive.What about putting them in that in the interim.Would give you a little while to sort them out properly.
Hey Grizzle. No, I no longer have a TBH. That was an early experiment that I tried and failed at. But thanks for the suggestion.
One of the many disparate habits of islanders, some of which are just tickety boo.
I have found a solution to my compost mini colony. There is just room to get the end of a floorless nuc box over the top of the top comb. So I shall insert a frame of honey and a frame of drawn comb in the nuc, put the compost bin back on, then leave well alone to simmer. Hopefully this will draw all the ladies plus her majesty up into the nuc.
Great plan - but will it work???
Hi Popz
One problem might be other bees robbing.
You would likely need to get a piece of correx or ply with a hole cut in it to place over the top of the compost bin to make a seal.
Other than that it should work if the colony is strong enough.
A wee tiny colony will not do well with a big empty space above it.
Jon - good to hear from you.
It has not been a good year for me and my ladies - especially my apideas, but that is another story.
Your comments make sense and fortunately there is room to put the top of the bin back on so a good seal. Their entrance is a wee hole at the bin's exit. But I am pretty sure now that it is just a small colony. It is impossible to uncover the nest as it is all part of the compost, bits of bracken stalks, banana skins, egg shells all part of it!! But I think it is but a wee colony. Anyway, all good experience and you never know, with some feeding and a wee chat something may come of it.
Popz, it's lovely to have you back on the forum. I imagine you weren't afloat today? The bees probably were, though!
Popz,
I rescued a colony from a compost bin 2 or 3 years ago (In Bradwell - you'll remember it). Rubber bands around the comb into empty frames (Best to have super and brood frames available for the cut-out). I did read that if you use masking tape, it doesn't cut through the comb and the bees chew it away themselves although I've never tried it. The queen and a selection of the comb was captured in a nuc. The nuc was left on site until evening and then removed with all the bees tucked up inside. You may need to remove the compost bin or at least any comb from within it to stop the flyers returning there.
As has been said before, the Paynes 6 frame nucs seem to work well for small colonies although the feeder tends to drown bees.
thanks for that Adam. trust you are well and thriving - your bees as well?
The silly ladies in my situation have decided to build their nest from about 3/4 of the way down and all are suspended between the walls of the bin and the compost, making it impossible to remove any comb without destroying it. So hope putting the bottomless nuc over the top of the nest will draw them up into it. But I do not have much hope as the ladies I can see are weak and not much go in them. A feeder of syrup above may revive them - we shall see.
I wonder if it's your absconded queen and her followers?
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