Lost and found

Walking back from my out apiary this evening and I saw this reasonably new natural comb in the bushes. This must have been a swarm I missed a month or so ago, though perhaps not from my colonies as the queens are all clipped. Most swarms settle a short distance from the hive they leave, then move elsewhere … this comb was a couple of hundred metres from my nearest colony.

Natural comb …

We had some good weather at the beginning of May. I was abroad and when I returned at the end of the first week I discovered a swarm had moved into a bait hive on top of my greenhouse. Perhaps it moved there from this tree? There are bees in both adjacent fields so this might have been the source. The comb was a foot or so deep from the branch it was connected to. I suspect that, having swarmed, the weather got worse, trapping the swarm in the tree for several days, during which time they built the comb.

In contrast, here’s one I did catch at the end of last month. I noticed this late in the evening and had to use flash to photograph it. It was at head height on a rotten branch.

Swarm of bees

I gave it a good shake (snapping the branch and dropping bees everywhere) into a Paynes poly nuc and left them on the ground overnight to sort themselves out. Within two days they’d drawn out sufficient foundationless frames for the queen to start laying and now, fifteen days later, are in a full hive with nearly 9 frames fully drawn and packed with eggs and brood.

Captured swarm in 8 frame poly nuc …

The queen in this swarm was large and pale, nothing like the ones I usually rear, so I suspect she’s a generous gift from an unsuspecting local beekeeper.