gavin

24 little hours.

Yesterday in 'Todays news' in the main forum I admitted my beekeeping incompetence - or at least my relative inattention this spring. One swarm had just departed. It was in the air and we (Bill, Rick, Dave and me) watched it settle high in the oak tree, then within an hour it was off. It took up residence in the walled garden wall where it will discomfit Ethel, the gardener. And we couldn't find the queen in (another) one of my six. So I visited again tonight and again couldn't find her. Yesterday that colony had an egg in a queen cup: today it has a charged queen cell and so the need to find her has gone up the rankings somewhat.

It is that point of the year when I realise that the various boxes and boards I planned to put together really are needed this week. Yesterday one colony became four units and another became two. There are three more that will need some variant of a spare box, probably this week. And the association bees needed their first artificial swarm at lunchtime.

But that swarm in the wall, what to do? Just accept that it has gone? It has only been there a day. Tonight I pumped the wall as full of smoke as I could manage and even shoved a smouldering piece of rotten wood in a hole. The bees came out in numbers from at least five holes in the wall (what a difficult trap-out that would have been) but I couldn't see the queen amongst them. So I set up a Paynes nuc box nearby with a couple of fumigated old combs, and smeared lemongrass oil inside the box and round the entrance. The first bee was investigating within a minute. Here is the scene after an hour away looking for a queen in a hive. There was a lot of fanning taking place at the nuc and bees seemed to be running away from the cavity in the wall. Have I successfully chased them out the wall and into a box? May visit tomorrow to see what happened. (Poor camera phone again, sorry)