Spring is Sprung!

Spring is Here!

Hello again, I am sorry that I have not blogged for some time, but a spell in hospital put me all out of sorts!. Georgina has been doing stirling work keeping an eye on the girls until I got back on my feet again. ( not to mention our allotment and visiting me, what a woman!).

You will remember that we had lost two swarms through the winter, but disaster struck when I found that one of the surviving two ( Victoria) had no queen , so I had no choice but to amalgamate them with the thriving “Anne” .

You do this by first placing news paper between the two with holes punched through. That way the two swarms can become acquainted , they  chew the holes much bigger smell and touch , become friends and then as one.

But we are our local swarm collectors, both registered with the council and our local Bee Association.

So it was that we had our first call out from the council that a lady had a swarm in her back alley ( if you will excuse the expression). It could not be found! More phone calls and a return trip found that it was a swarm, but not one to be collected. they had made their home through the corner of a flat roofed building and was in the roof space. As I am not getting into building work this one was a false start!.

On the following Sunday going over to the Cornerfield to check on “Anne” I met our nursery hosts who said they had been trying to contact us since Friday. They had a swarm high in the outer branches of a tree, also impossible to reach. As we looked on the swarms scouts must have come back with a find and the swarm took off, flying so low over our heads that we had to duck!. It first circled then then disappeared down their chimney! They then started making its home in the living room wood burner!!

Sadly there was little else to do, and after several attempts to encourage the girls to go and live some where else failed, but destroy them.

That same afternoon we had a call for a swarm in a front gardens small tree, this we collected and is safely ensconced in a hive with the Ancient Queens name of “Bodica”      ( lets hope they are not aggressive as she was!).

On the Monday we collected one swarm more and a “cast” this is a second much smaller departure following a virgin queen about ten bays after a main swarm has left the parent hive. They are now in a “nuc” a sort of small hive and hopefully the new virgin queen will get mated and become the “White Queen” ( white being this years colour to mark the queens or hive so you when she was born).

On arriving at the first swarm however the on Monday I had forgotten my suit! A hectic drive home to return with the said suit, but wrong short gardening gloves.

The result was a successful swarm collected and two stings and a bemused house holder! I recall from my Army days that “time spent in preparation is seldom wasted” is one I really must remember!

So the upshot of this May madness is that from one swarm we now have three and a fourth potential, if our new Virgin goes out has a good time, comes back with a huge smile on her face and gets laying!

Well thats it for now , I hope you are all well, I will write again soon.

Freddie