In the meantime we noticed this swarm on Monday evening, high in a cherry tree about 20 feet from the hives. To say we felt beleaguered at this point would be spot on. We thought my husband had missed the emergence of a queen before destroying the cells and they'd left one of our hives, but it is rare for swarms to follow a virgin queen. They are usually an old queen leaving a burgeoning hive and taking half the workers with her. At this point however, all we were thinking was 'could anything else go wrong?'
The swarm was so high in the tree that retrieval seemed impossible but last night my husband made some Heath Robinson contraption and had a go. By this time he'd established, after introducing the newly arrived mated queens to the hives that this swarm were not our bees at all, he'd managed to get some to go into a new hive. They were fanning at the entrance and he thought he'd succeeded but the queen can't have been amongst the ones he introduced as the swarm reverted to the tree pretty quickly.
I've just taken this photo this morning and it shows the swarm still there. These bees are bigger and darker than ours and must be pretty hardy as we've had nothing but rain since they stopped here. What is the likelihood of a swarm coming here, in such proximity to our hives and at a time of such uncertainty for us?The odds must be long ones to be sure. Going to try again tonight to get this swarm into a hive. Looks like there will be another instalment to this story.....
Postscript : No Heath Robinson artefact required! Tonight, we happened to be on hand when the swarm rose into the air like a tornado and headed towards the empty hive. It was absolutely text book stuff and quite amazing to see it happen spontaneously. Probably shows that Nature's instincts are far better than human interventions!
6 comments:
Who'd have thought bee keeping was so complicated?! Perhaps those bees heard on the grapevine that there were some empty hives ready and waiting and came over to have a look. I am glad they didn't all come here as I'd have been terrified having ended up in hospital once after treading on a bee when walking bare foot on the lawn - didn't do the bee much good either!
Wow what a fantastic account - I'm amazed that the bees would take themselves into the hive. Hopefully they all settle down and produce you some honey, and there are so many interesting things you can do with bees wax.
Please keep us posted.
What fascinates me with swarms is that it only takes minutes and they are gone........ It is mesmerising to watch. We have had them come up the garden on about four occasions and it's really fascinating. Ten minutes later, and if you have just arrived, you would be none the wiser it had happened or where they had settled. Fingers crossed for you that it all works out.
The story of the bees is like tuning in each week for the next chapter of a really gripping yarn - thank you! I am amazed by this part - the swarm arriving and then, heading into the hive! Truly astounding. I liked in particular the mail-order Queens - like mail-order brides perchance? Fabulous fascination.
This is absolutely fascinating!
What a story! I had no idea there was so much involved with successful bee keeping. It's probably best if I stick to domestic pets, they seem much easier to keep!
I'm so glad the new bees chose to move into the empty hive - although does that mean that someone else is scratching their head wondering where their bees have gone?
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