Flurry of Phone-calls.
It’s the last week of June and I’m enjoying a rare day of sun with little to do but catch up on journal reading. Or, so I thought till the calls start coming in about a massive swarm making its way through our hamlet. I try to reassure the callers and go along the road in the direction of the last sighting.
The Swarm’s Beekeeper Searching Too.
I meet Sandy in his van searching also for the swarm. They are his. The oil seed rape crop is over so the bees decide to swarm now. Unbeknown to me, Sandy has 24 colonies tucked away in a half field of OSR not too far from my apiary. He is keeping them there till it is time to go to the heather. I did wonder why I was seeing so many bees on shrubs along the road recently and this influx of bees explains it. We soon give up searching though and he goes off to help someone in Inverness with another swarm.
Late Evening Call-Out.
There’s a knock on my door around 10pm and a neighbour tells me that the swarm has been spotted beside a public footpath. Sandy arrives soon after I call him. We try to shake the swarm into his skep which is a large straw basket. It is tricky to do. The swarm is so large that it may be 2 merged swarms and they don’t all fit in. They have been out for 2 days apparently and are not in good humour. I know because I only bring a protective veil thinking that they have only just left the hive today.
A lot of bees go into the skep which Sandy props open at the bottom but covers over with a sheet to protect the bees overnight. He will collect them first thing in the morning.
Complications.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I see Sandy leaving at 7 am next day but it was premature. Later in the day, I receive more phone calls from folk who cannot use the path due to angry bees. The bees left behind have no queen and are bewildered and hungry and will not go into the second skep that Sandy has brought.
Sandy Returns With A Caged Queen.
I suggest that Sandy brings over a caged queen to attract the remaining bees into the second skep. As he walks up the path with 2 cages containing a mated and an un-mated queen, the bees are all over them the moment they smell the pheromones. He chooses the mated queen and suspends the cage inside the skep by a thin metal rod pushed up through the roof. Within seconds the bees are marching up into the skep which Sandy collects at dusk. The bees have all gone. Phew!
The Neighbours.
The neighbours involved are kept up to date and given information and reassurance. Luckily, they are interested in what is happening and are tolerant of the temporary inconvenience.
That’s a huge swarm – somewhat intimidating, if angry, I’m sure. Nice idea bringing another queen.
Yes, absolutely. Luckily only I got stung. Oh, and Sandy. If he had warned me that they had been out for so long I would have dressed up appropriately. Wearing cut off trousers and wellies was inviting trouble!
Impressive work, and not a cherry-picker in sight. If, as you suspect, it was a merged swarm from more than one hive, would there be two (or even three) queens in there?
There could have been. Perhaps virgin queens, but only guessing. It was just so massive. Whatever happened, the main queen was taken away in the first skep. I guess the moral of the story is have large enough, or several containers when out collecting swarms. Poor things must have been frantic and very hungry.
Nice work Ann. But what a huge swarm. I don’t know how you stayed cool. And getting stung to boot. How horrible. I can provide some lifting and camera assistance with bees but after reading all the blogs I know how little, I really know about bees. Each to his own. But I must read that book you sent me before I come up the A9 again! It looks very interesting and I might understand a little bit more afterwards. This is an interesting blog even if bees are not my thing!