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May 2022
11:15am, 30 May 2022
83 posts
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Boffin
One of the hives is up to something... moderate strength in bee numbers, plenty of stores and pollen - queen not seen and no larvae only sealed drone brood...
No opened QC either.
Put a test frame in a couple of weeks ago and they didnt raise any emergency queens - figured they may have a virgin in there and are just waiting.
Still nothing doing, big then the weather here has been changeable. Maybe still waiting for her to fly?
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Jun 2022
6:17pm, 2 Jun 2022
88 posts
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Boffin
Came home from work this afternoon to see a swarm of my bees chilling on a branch above a hive...
Had to forego my cup of tea and whip up some frames in a nuc.. big of pruning and a bee drop later and swarm in a box..
Tidy 🙂 just hops they stay put bow in their new home 🤞
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Jun 2022
6:19pm, 2 Jun 2022
89 posts
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Boffin
Would help if I posted the correct image, instead of the same one twice!🙄😔🤣
'Bit of pruning, not big of pruning' Big fingers, little phone you 🤣
Hopefully that one is the nuc of swarm bees 🙂
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Jun 2022
8:23pm, 2 Jun 2022
2,721 posts
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Winniefree
Fingers crossed!
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Jun 2022
3:07pm, 7 Jun 2022
2,731 posts
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Winniefree
I'm trying to sort out insurance for the apiary (to cover the bees, hives, tools and equipment - we've got the usual BBKA insurance for the public liability etc.) Has anyone got any experience of doing this successfully? I'm waiting for a call back from NFU but other than that I can't find any other potential insurers.
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Jun 2022
8:20pm, 7 Jun 2022
94 posts
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Boffin
Farming / smallholders insurers would be a possibility? I suppose it depends on the amount of land your apiary is on?
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Jun 2022
12:31am, 9 Jun 2022
89,938 posts
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Hanneke
NFU insures apiaries 
Not that I have one... Yet...
So: burning question to the natural bee minders on here: last year I did a naturopathic beekeeping course. I am a herbalist and grown, make and forage herbal medicine.
I would like a hive of bees so I have access to propolis to make medicine.
I made a skep and put it out in April, baited witha drop of lemon grass oil.
I have seen "some" scouting activity but not much...
Monday evening 9 pm I got a call from a friend: swarm on their gate. So I go and look and acquaint myself with the swarm. It was heavy, low pressure and wet. I showed them where my hive is, just over a mile away.
Tuesday midday: still on the gate.
Eatly evening I try their willingness to be moved by me and they don't like it. I put the spare skep over the gate corner and leave them to it.
Today it is dry, warm and sunny yet they stayed put. Again I checked their willingness to be moved at 4.30 pn. They said yes so I left and borrowed a bee suit and came to move them at 7.30 pm.
I scooped them into the upturned skep but every time the gat was empty, they would go back on so obviously, the queen was not in the skep.
I then spotted fanning bees at the entrance of a he in the fence. Madam is INSIDE the gate.
Soooooooo
How do I get her out? When I left 1/3 of the swarm had gone back on the gate out of the skep...
We need to move them, as this is a working farm and the tenant cannot get to his sheep and cattle!!! Well, he could, but he doesn't dare open the gate with the bees by the catch!
So his quad is stuck there too 🙄🙄🙄
I did open the gate so I had better access to scoop bees from both sides...
Anyway: how do I get the queen out of the gate and into the skep?
I never envisaged having to get a swarm by the way. I found it surprisingly unintimidating but did squash a few bees
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Jun 2022
10:12am, 9 Jun 2022
2,735 posts
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Winniefree
It’s a long shot but there’s some folklore around drumming to drive the bees where you want them to go. Could set up your skep with a clear (netted?) passage from the queen’s hideout to the door and then drum vigorously on the gate post. No idea whether it would work but it’s maybe worth a try.
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Jun 2022
10:13am, 9 Jun 2022
2,736 posts
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Winniefree
To the skep, not the door!!
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Jun 2022
2:22pm, 9 Jun 2022
89,948 posts
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Hanneke
Winnie they HATE noise and vibrations so I tried that by the gate post last night and it had the opposite effect: bees in skep, about 90% or more, went back to the queen. However: if I scooped them all up again and then caused vibration on the gate, she might just walk out!!!
I am actually planning to set up a proper bait hive about 200 metres from where they are in the direction they have been scouting... I think she is starved and exhausted and my hive is too far away!
Once they move in, I fold over a tarp I place underneath and carry the whole hive, at dusk, everyone home, in my friends landrover (it is a mile up steep, wet fields carrying a hive otherwise) and bring them home. Position on hive stand, remove tarp, open entrance in the morning.
Sound about right?
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