Swarms and cutouts
We all hope that our colonies won’t swarm too much – although we will always have some that get away and some years are described by beekeepers as “swarmy ” ones. This year has been OK for us in this regard however we have been asked to collect a few, including two cut-outs and a couple that ‘just turned up’.
One swarm appeared on a hedge one day at our main apiary, and assuming it was from one of our own hives, all had to be checked which wasn’t the plan for the day. The swarm was knocked into a small hive with queen excluder over the entrance to stop them all flying away and it was placed on the ground under the swarm spot and after checking all colonies at the apiary, it was definitely not one of ours so it must have arrived near to our hives purely by co-incidence. At least we know that we had no queencells that day in the apiary. As the queen was in the hive, all the swarming bees returned to it as the day went on.
Two arrived by themselves this year – in stacks of hive parts by a shed. Incidentally, if anyone wants to attempt to catch a swarm, the general idea is to use a bait hive, consisting of a brood box with roof and solid floor and with a frame of old comb as the old comb smells ‘hivey’ and helps as an attractant. You just might be lucky.
And two stocks had to be rescued – one from a compost bin which seems to be a favourite place for bees to nest in – and the other from a packing case on an industrial estate. Both had removable lids from which the wax was attached, so it was easy to turn the lids over to get access to the comb.
The process of “rescuing” a colony after it has been “in the wrong place”* can be a messy one. The general procedure is to cut out as much decent comb as possible and fix into frames with elastic bands or masking tape. Ideally we want brood comb, assuming the queen is laying. A bottle of water to rinse hands and knives etc is often required as each piece of comb is cut out and fixed in the frames. It’s a sticky job. And if we can find the queen and cage her, its so much better than just hoping that we have her in the box once it’s been carted away. Once the comb has been fixed in and the queen (still caged) is put into a suitable portable hive with it’s entrance as close to the entrance the bees were previously using is then left until dusk. By this time the bees will be inside their new box and it can be carried away.
Within a week or so, the cut-out comb is usually fixed in the frames by wax and the masking tape or elastic bands are being chewed through. The above picture shows masking tape after it has been ejected from the hive. This hive is a modified Paynes one with 8 frames instead of 6, with a feeder in a wooden eke above it.
*As far as the bees were concerned, they had settled on the RIGHT place!
Not all caught swarms turn out OK. It is wise to put them away from other bees for a while in case of disease. Swarms are generally well-behaved for the first week or so however occasionally that changes as some have behaviour that is not too good. Others might be swarmy themselves which we’ll find out later in the season or the following year and some have queens that fail very soon after getting established.
Browstonbee 
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