June 4th 2010

I've been mentoring a couple who have a hive at my apiary. A while ago I advised them to put their spare hive out in their back garden as a bait hive. I got a call from them saying a swarm descended into their garden and entered their hive.

Then at about midday my mobile and then my home phone rang, my mum told me about a swarm in one of her friends gardens. 20 minutes later armed with a camera and top bar nuc I'm smiling from ear to ear even though it is only looks like a small cast. (Queen not seen)

Every swarm collectors dream as they were less than 2 feet off the floor.



They swarmed on the 1st May with a similar size cluster which was collected by another keeper, then they tried to swarm again yesterday but returned to the hive after 2 hours which upset the beek who came to try and collect them.

Today
By the time I arrived today at about 12:30 they had been out for about 2.5 hours.

They came from a feral colony who have been in an old decorative chimney pot at the bottom of the garden for about 3 years. Each year they have thrown 2-3 swarms of roughly equal sizes.

To see the movie on YouTube Click here