So once I get myself up and running I’m going to need bees. Bee’s wont see an empty hive and think ‘ooo that’s nice, lets live there’. The chances of this are extremely remote. If I’m going to turn my new hive into a new home I have a few options available to me. I can buy them, catch a swarm or get a bee package. I’ve heard that you can also get a ‘nuc’ which is a small nucleus hive which can be bought as a starter hive. It includes a laying queen, honey stores and a brood nest. I’m not too sure I want to buy a starter hive because bees in a package are raised in hives then removed and put into boxes. The problem is that with this method, as the bees are often from mixed hives, the queen can sometimes be rejected and killed off. This poses a challenge as a queen is rapidly needed and getting one at short notice isn’t easy especially if I'm not visiting the hive too regularly. This puts the whole hive at risk and I don’t want to kill off up to 80,000 bees. That would be mortifying.
Catching a local swarm
The best way to obtain my bees is to catch a local swarm. Local swarms will reassure me that the bees are acclimatised to the area. They are also great at maintaining the growth of local hives creating strong hives and propagate more bees and colonies. So it’s a no brainer really. I’ve heard recently of a few swarms being identified locally so getting them shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
So before I go ‘swarm catching’ i'll need to start gathering some equipment for the job. Time to start adding items to my Amazon list ready for next year.
Swarms can be found in some spectacular places and If you’ve ever seen one, you may be amazed by its beauty. They can often be found, on a tree branch, small branches or vegetation, clustering on a fence, wall or other structure or even clustering on the ground. The queen can typically be found in the middle of the swarm. If she is not caught, the other bees will fly out of the box you've just put them in and this is a tell-tale sign you haven’t picked her up. If she isn’t collected, it may be that she follows the swarm as you drive off and joins the bees again later on.
Catching a swarm isn’t a quick process. Once caught, the box in which the bees have been caught is closed with a small gap for the ‘scouting' bees to return and be collected. They’ll be out when you catch the swarm as that’s their job. Once dark and when they've returned, the box can be completely closed and transported to the new hive because all the bees will be back in the hive. The following morning, the bees can be transferred to their new hive and voila, they have a new home.... with me.
If you're interested, please watch the video below of a swam being caught by certified master beekeeper David Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms.
Image credits:
'Single bee' from Pexels, royalty free images.
Comments