Two beekeepers try to transfer a cast swarm

Another member of my BKA needed a new queen, and if possible some fresh bees to go with her, to repopulate a queenless colony. I offered him a little cast swarm that had arrived in an unoccupied nuc box the day before. He came to the small apiary to collect the colony before they'd had a chance to get themselves too settled.

It seemed a straightforward thing to do, but the only problem was that the other beekeeper uses National hives, and I use Jumbo Langstroths - the frames aren't compatible. He thought the easiest way to move the bees would be to shake them into their new box, which was a clean but well-used wooden 5-frame nucleus, complete with a frame feeder and some lovely new foundation.

Easy!

A bad beekeeper delays a swarm

Bees are precious this year because too many colonies were lost during last winter and the cold, late, spring. Colonies that made it through aren't without problems.

Many local beekeepers are reporting that their 'last year's queen' has been superseded or has simply vanished - you will recall that last year was so wet that mating flights were few and far between, so mating was poor.

What have previously been easily-contained colonies of 'local bees' have been swarming. I have caught one swarm in my garden, have been called to collect a swarm in a garden adjacent to another local beekeeper - who is on holiday - but the swarm took off just before I arrived. That beekeeper had caught an earlier swarm just before going away.

This is mirrored within my small apiary. On the first inspection after I fortnight of cold weather I found one colony had lost their queen - there was no sign of either fresh brood or queen cells. One has been split, which I'll describe in another post. One of the colonies is currently superseding, but is continuing to build up rapidly so I need to keep a careful eye on it.

Basic Assessment notes - Part 3 : Natural History of the Honeybee

I think it's important to remember that this syllabus is for the 'Basic Beekeeping' qualification - the first, and for some the last, beekeeping assessment they will take. The syllabus contains a lot - because beekeeping involves knowing a lot, but the basic care of a few colonies of bees doesn't require a depth of knowledge of every single aspect of beekeeping and bee biology. That knowledge can come later, as confidence and a need or desire to know more, develops.

I've underlined what I think are key words in each part of this section of the syllabus. This is because even the newest of beekeepers will probably have read books containing whole chapters describing any one of the topics listed below (- and as you're reading this blog you will have done a web search, and may have landed on this page long after reading piles of stuff elsewhere -) and there's a risk of wanting to regurgitate pages and pages of details. This is not necessary when preparing for the Basic.

A Swarm ... of Honey Bees

Is this a swarm?
If you're reading this page because you have discovered what you think is a swarm of honey bees in a tree, on a post, a car bumper or the outside of a building, you need to be sure it is swarm of honey bees. Check first by doing an image search and/or visiting the BBKA site, which has several pictures of swarms.

Is this a colony of Honey Bees?
If you have bees living in a building, a tree or in the ground then they might not be honey bees.

• Insects with yellow and black stripes and an almost hairless body, living in a papery-looking nest in a shed, an attic, or in a tree or hedge, are probably wasps or hornets (Vespa crabro - friendly giants).
• If the bees you can see are large and very hairy, maybe thumbnail sized and living in a bird box or a hole in the ground, they are more likely to be bumble bees.
• If there are only a few smallish bees, entering and leaving a pencil-sized entrance in a wall or a bank, they could be solitary bees - mason bees etc. (There are over 200 species of solitary bees in the British Isles).
• If the bees are not bumble bees, and there are a lot of smallish (little fingernail sized) bees coming and going through a hole of about an inch diameter (2.5cm) in a tree, in brickwork, near a window frame, in a roof or a chimney and some of them (not all of them) are arriving at the nest entrance carrying something yellow or orange (pollen or propolis) on their back legs, they could be honey bees.

Bumble bees and solitary bees are unlikely to sting. They will build up small colonies during a season, but do not make large permanent nests. Towards the end of their season, which may be July or August, the colony raises a number of fertile queens. These are the individual bees that overwinter, on their own. These not-honey-bees are unlikely to return to the same nest site the following year.

If you are sure you have honey bees, and would like them collected or removed you can find contact details your nearest swarm collector via the BBKA site, and on Honey Bee Swarm Collectors UK.

~'.'~

Swarming
Swarming is the honey bees' means of reproduction. Individual honey bees cannot go off and start a new colony on their own - they have to work together, have to stay together, and have to keep the queen healthy and safe from predators. Seeley calls a colony of bees a 'superorganism' - a single organism comprising many individuals, much the same principle as corals or sponges, with honeycomb being the framework of their home.

What is a swarm.
A swarm of honey bees contains a number of flying worker bees, drones, and a queen. She could be a newly-emerged, unmated, virgin queen or an older, mated queen.