Swarms 2014

ok, had my first call out to a swarm today, but had to pass it on to another beekeeper

So it is arounf the time i expected 15th/16th April from looking at my own hives

so what swarms have others collected in 2014

i know the swarm location and it is one of two beekepers I know

First swarm collected 2 days ago here in sunny Sussex - not mine by the way!

dickbowyer said:

First swarm collected 2 days ago here in sunny Sussex - not mine by the way!

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Reckon that's from the nuc I am being made to wait till 26th to collect...

I have had 2 swarm calls as swarm officer for my association. Another member had a swarm arrive in his garden on Sunday. Today swmbo took a call on our swarm hotline from the dreaded bumble bees in my rabbit hutch brigade.

My very first call of the year was today. That's the earliest I have ever had by 11 days. They were reported as being 4 metres up in a lilac. En route I was wondering how to tackle them with my 2 metre ladders. When I arrived they had just left the lilac and were heading off to a new location. Two doors down, I saw them actually going in under the eaves into the roof space. Oh dear, I won't be touching those. Glad they were not mine, someone else's problem.

I collected a swarm on Saturday (12th April).
A nice size swarm that is safely Hived and growing

I also was able to prevent a swarm from one of my Hives today.
Whilst inspecting the Hive I found Queen cells.
Fortunately the Queen was still there so I was able to do an artificial swarm.

blimey!! glad were a few weeks behind out here in western Wales!!

2 swarms in my area not mine though.

The rate at which we're booming in London, I am panicked until I get back into the hive on Friday. Fingers crossed...

TryingToLetThemBee said:

The rate at which we're booming in London, I am panicked until I get back into the hive on Friday. Fingers crossed...

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dont worry there will only be a few QC if any at all, your bees are mainly AMM I told my friend,

He has just told me tonight that he has just found 40 queen cells on black bees than really never swarm in normal years

TryingToLetThemBee said:

The rate at which we're booming in London, I am panicked until I get back into the hive on Friday. Fingers crossed...

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My first two days ago shame the car did not come with it.
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GlenJ said:

blimey!! glad were a few weeks behind out here in western Wales!!

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Meanwhile here in East mid Wales...bees are bursting out of Commercials with only one super and first charged cups appearing. Four apiaries on 3 or 4 supers and will be taking Demaree and queen breeding kit out from tomorrow. This. Won't. Last.

Heard tell of two swarms from Canterbury members.

Put a third super on one of my hives.
April 16th. Crazy.
Did an A/S on one last week after I was too slow adding the second super.
Supers are more full of bees than honey. I've no OSR within flying range.

I have a strong feeling that this might be a bumper year - for swarms at least…

Mike Palmer; if you're reading all this at what I believe to be 20F and snowy, I feel your pain; spring must come to NA soon.

Completly cought out

I went down to do my first inspection 2 days ago, knowing I was late and one hive swarmed on arrival.
All four hives are national on a brood and a half and were completely full of bees suffering from congestion. No extra feeding in the winter.
A second hive seems to be superseding with a single large sealed queen cell and the queen still present - I have left this to its own devices
A third hive was building queen cells, so I AF it.
Location - Herefordshire

"Two doors down, I saw them actually going in under the eaves into the roof space. Oh dear, I won't be touching those. Glad they were not mine, someone else's problem."

did you inform the householder? if accessible from roof space much better to remove before they've established a new home. ok you may not be willing but how would you like it if someone saw a swarm enter your property and not tell you?

Two more reports today.
One from a local beginner's hive and one from one of the hives set up at the other side of the OSR field from another beginner - who now has increased her colonies by 50%.
I think I might ask her if I can park a bait hive at her place - the other chap has two hives that haven't swarmed yet!

2 swarms collected in 2 days for the Sidcup BK's. It's going to be busy for a while they think.

Swarm collected 12/4/14
This was a prime swarm collected from a private garden.

Swarm collected today 17/04/14
This is a prime swarm collected from the roadside off a Holly Bush