I had already hived a swarm which had absconded the next day and I was at the peak of my exhaustion from 14 bee stings the previous day, but when I heard my new beekeeper friend, Pete, had caught a large (size of a football), prime swarm from one of his hives, I was keen to give it another go.
We shook and swept his swarm into my hive and I fed them 12 pints of sugar syrup (1:1, sugar to water) using a 12 pint jumbo beehive feeder. There was some drizzle during the day and the forecast for the next few days was not good, so I hoped they would want to anywhere and they would stay this time. When I got home that evening I had the satisfied glow of a job well done.
Seven days later and they are still their hurrah! A success.
Smoking the swarm (which was caught in a nuc box):
Shaking bees into their new home:
Bees flying everywhere:
Postscript: If you want to find out if they stayed this time, please read Warning – Novice Beekeeper Alert.
14 bee stings! And you still went back for more, go you.
That instinct to swarm remains strong despite the rain. On the positive side swarming is a natural method of varroa control, because of the break in brood. So your swarmed hives should start with lower levels of varroa as you prepare them for overwintering. (That’s the plus side of swarming Emily and me keep trying to tell ourselves after our lovely queen Lavender swarmed.)