its started, 1st swarm 11th April

got a call at 2:00 swarm in North london

small prime colony ,very low down so walked them up

Nicely done

brilliant! Thanks for posting this!

Two ekes MM?
Double brood or brood and a half or just ensuring they have plenty of space?

What's the hive you are using - looks plastic?

Looks like a ****** poly nuc to me with x2 14x12 ekes - tell us why please

I have been censored but you can read the make p a y n e s on the nuc lid

I am guessing eke for the 14x12 + feeder, am I right? is there a prize?

Amazing! A swarm and primroses in the same picture!

dickbowyer said:

Looks like a ****** poly nuc to me with x2 14x12 ekes - tell us why please

I have been censored but you can read the make p a y n e s on the nuc lid

Click to expand...

And its been rather nicely painted, but with what?

itma said:

And its been rather nicely painted, but with what?

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Paint perhaps?

dickbowyer said:

Looks like a ****** poly nuc to me with x2 14x12 ekes - tell us why please

I have been censored but you can read the make p a y n e s on the nuc lid

Click to expand...

QUOTE=Mike a;223831]Two ekes MM?
Double brood or brood and a half or just ensuring they have plenty of space?

[/QUOTE]

soory for late reply but been having a pint of Youngs Bitter in the Lord Nelson, it was a hard day


it a p a y n e s 14x12 Nuc ( standard + 14x12 Eke) in HD polystrene plus clear plastic crown board with extra 14x12 eke( white bit) above that holds a nuc miller type feeder......cos i don't like the normal side feeders in these for swarms..ok for comb split Nuc ..perverse I maybe, but i have tape off the side feeder to stop them biulding wild comb or drowning the queen in the side feeder....queen excluder on entrance for 3-4 days

@MM

I'm seriously thinking of cutting out the divider to the feeder in mine and modify it to take another frame or a frame feeder if required. I haven't looked at P's website for awhile so about time I did to see what extras they have on offer.
Great picture btw.

tonybloke said:

Paint perhaps?

Click to expand...

Yesss!

The current advice that I have is that water-based masonry paint should be the best bet, rather than the woodstains that were once advised.
I haven't spotted that type of paint in green though.
And yes, I do know that Polyhive ploughs his own furrow with gloss solvent-welding itself into the surface.
That green looks much less scruffy than the bare mottled plastic of the Pains hives and nuc.
Just wondered what it might be.

And doubling-up on the eke for 14x12 and a feeder is an obvious possibility (that hadn't previously occurred to me... doh!) to get round the hazardous reputation of the integral 'frame' feeder.

itma said:

Yesss!

The current advice that I have is that water-based masonry paint should be the best bet, rather than the woodstains that were once advised.
I haven't spotted that type of paint in green though.
And yes, I do know that Polyhive ploughs his own furrow with gloss solvent-welding itself into the surface.
That green looks much less scruffy than the bare mottled plastic of the Pains hives and nuc.
Just wondered what it might be.

And doubling-up on the eke for 14x12 and a feeder is an obvious possibility (that hadn't previously occurred to me... doh!) to get round the hazardous reputation of the integral 'frame' feeder.

Click to expand...

Dulux extra satin masonary water base "green Glade"

Mike a said:

@MM

I'm seriously thinking of cutting out the divider to the feeder in mine and modify it to take another frame or a frame feeder if required. I haven't looked at P's website for awhile so about time I did to see what extras they have on offer.
Great picture btw.

Click to expand...

I considered cutting out the feeder last year but held off doing it. I may 'experiment' in the not too distant future. Last year i either blocked off the feeder completely or put in a piece of queen excluder to stop HM 'drowning' and any problems with wild comb. I generally found that bees in poly nucs do not need a lot of supplemental feeding. That of course depends on a lot of other factors.....

itma said:

Yesss!

The current advice that I have is that water-based masonry paint should be the best bet, rather than the woodstains that were once advised.
I haven't spotted that type of paint in green though.
And yes, I do know that Polyhive ploughs his own furrow with gloss solvent-welding itself into the surface.
That green looks much less scruffy than the bare mottled plastic of the Pains hives and nuc.
Just wondered what it might be. .

Click to expand...

If you go to a big B&Q they mix their own brand of masonry paint to order, so you can pick whatever shades you want and it's pretty cheap, that's what I've used on them with no problems.

MuswellMetro said:

Dulux extra satin masonary water base "green Glade"

Click to expand...

Steve_gts said:

If you go to a big B&Q they mix their own brand of masonry paint to order, so you can pick whatever shades you want and it's pretty cheap, that's what I've used on them with no problems.

Click to expand...

Many thanks!

/ And apologies for the digression!

This is getting monotenous

Another swarm....sorry for posting another swarm picture but just got a secondhandn iphone , so taking reasonable photos is a novelty

looked easy but the dustbin was filled with bricks and water...could not budge or shake it

smoke them down onto a cloth, found the queen, a bright yellow new virgin and placed her in the Nuc with a handfull of bees and the rest just walked in

This time the Nuc is without a feeder on the nuc, yesterdays swarm is still locked in with the QEx but forage bees look happy

MuswellMetro said:

Another swarm....sorry for posting another swarm picture but just got a secondhandn iphone , so taking reasonable photos is a novelty

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Hey, keep them coming!

... found the queen, a bright yellow new virgin and placed her in the Nuc with a handfull of bees and the rest just walked in
...

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So this likely isn't the primary swarm, then ... ?

lucky sod nice to have them at such a low height.