A Blustery Shook Swarm ..

With the bees firmly established at the Royal Armouries at Fort Nelson I decided that there was a weather window on Friday afternoon to change the hives and "persuade" the bees to move into my new 14x12 brood box from Mikes Commercial brood box; you will recall that I left them last week with the 14x12 on top of the commercial with 8 frames of fresh foundation with a English feeder with syrup with a 1% solution of Vitafeed Green to stimulate the colony.

Looking at the colony upon arrival it was clear that the bees were flying but it was quite windy albeit sunny with the thermometer indicating 21 degrees and 60% humidity.  I took the plunge and suited up with Mike who had kindly donated the colony to me.

We followed the standard practice of moving the hive across on the stand and put my new floor down with a queen excluder to stop them absconding after the shook swarm. We then put my 14x12 brood box on the floor with 3 central frames removed to produce a suitable gap. Moving swiftly we then removed the frames individually from Mike's hive and dropped the bees into the 14x12 with a sharp knock.  We then used the bee brush to remove the more defiant remnants. Regrettably the queen was not sighted although Mike said she was large and obvious when last seen.

Never-the-less we put the missing frames of foundation back in and then popped a queen excluder on top with Mike's brood box back on top with all the sealed brood in the middle. Hopefully they'll sort themselves out with all the nurse bees heading up to deal with the brood and the flying bees drawing out the wax - a super with a feeder on top should help them.

The whole operation took only 15 minutes and the circling bees were soon making their way across their new landing board and into the floor entrance. I returned the following day to build a small windbreak to help them land and when the sun came out they were happily doing what they do best.

Back to work tomorrow but I'll be back up there next week to check that they are drawing out the foundation and to remove the lower queen excluder if I'm happy. Another week later and I should be in a position to remove the upper brood box and to put the hive in it's final configuration. As the colony establishes itself I'll be removing the dummy boards and inserting the final four frames of foundation.

And if you are in the Portsmouth area I strongly suggest a visit to the Royal Armouries, its free entry and has just had a upgrade - it's a great way to spend a few hours ..

A New Home ..

With a Bank Holiday weekend fast approaching and a new job beckoning I felt under pressure to move my newly acquired colony from the farm which has very little forage to their new home in a walled garden in a local visitor centre.

Friday afternoon saw me constructing a new base and taking the majority of the equipment up to the centre in preparation for the arrival of the colony ..

Having collected the colony from the farm and brought it home overnight I arrived bright and early today to find the gates solidly shut despite all previous arrangements - a slight delay before the serious business began.

The task was to transfer the colony from a commercial hive to my new 14x12 with new foundation  I took the decision to place my new brood box on top with a feeder and to give the colony a week or so to draw out the wax before I conduct a shook swarm and then I intend to leave the commercial box with frames on top of a queen excluder for a further 2 weeks to make the most of the remaining brood.

Luckily the weather was absolutely spot on and the colony very well behaved and I soon had the manipulation complete; I took the opportunity to establish my 14x12 Nuc as a bait hive just in case ..

The apiary is up and running  and the bees appear happy ...