Ahoy-hoy BEE-KEEPERS

[AE-NMidlands]

If your ndighbours bees do have a disease, then in't it likely that the swarms could also - depending on what it is? If so, giving them to someoe else might not be such a good idea. When my father kept bees, we used to get visits from a goverment inspector to check for deseases, do they no longer do that? The old man that came round used to be a fountain of knowledge and really helpful.

If you are really concered about the likelyhood of desease in your neighbours hives, might be worth having a discreet word with the ministry.

From what the "expert" was doing to the hive I suspect foul brood so will monitor away from my own hives. As for giving to someone else it would only be to other experienced bee keepers who know how to handle and quarantine swarms.

If you are registered on Beebase you will get an alert if there is anything serious officially identified near you... I had this one a few years ago

Dear Mr beekeeper
This email has been sent out as part of a 'disease alert' service to beekeepers, implemented by the National Bee Unit (NBU). At the end of each day, beekeepers will be notified if they have an apiary that is within 3KM of a new disease outbreak.
Please be advised that today 24/04/2012, the following disease has been confirmed within 3KM of one or more of your apiaries:
Disease Diagnosed: European Foulbrood (EFB)
Your Apiaries At Risk: Woodland
Please be vigilant and examine your colonies carefully, advising us if you have concerns. For help in recognizing disease, you can view our Foul Brood leaflet, or for more information please visit BeeBase online at http://www.nationalbeeunit.com
Priority Inspection Visits of apiaries will be continued in areas where disease has been confirmed.
If you have moved colonies into, or out of these apiaries since your last visit from the Bee Inspector - please advise us at your earliest convenience.
Your help and co-operation is, as always, greatly appreciated in completing these visits as swiftly as possible.

Your "expert" should know better than to not report foulbrood, so I guess they probably have a problem with Varroa or the virus diseases it spreads. I have had several mentees refuse to acknowledge their hives' problems, not treat for Varroa (maybe hoping that their bees will miraculously learn how to deal with it) and then panic imagining they had something really serious, when it was just severe varroasis. It's difficult to recue a badly affected small colony... a shook swarm will leave the bugs behind in the brood comb and let the colony start off afresh, and this would look the same as a shook swarm being done to "treat" EFB.

[renewablejohn]

On the swarms I captured I did assume the worst and gave them fresh frames as I do believe a lot of problems are caused by lack of hygiene especially with multiple hives.

As for the neighbor we have a saying all the gear and no idea. In this cae I think it is probably very apt.

[AE-NMidlands]

Seems to be quite a swarmy year... https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north- ... p-26965181 says

The North Wales towns and villages in the grip of 'extraordinary' bee swarms
Beekeepers are reporting more swarms than usual - with Denbigh appearing to be bearing the brunt of the bee invasion

Residents across North Wales have been left aghast by the sheer number of bee swarms descending in towns and villages this month. May often marks the start of the swarming season but beekeepers and householders are reporting larger numbers than usual.
In the past week, bees have made new homes in scores of attic spaces, from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Bethesda, Gwynedd. They’ve been reported in Dwyran on Anglesey, in willow trees in Ruthin, Denbighshire, and on chimneys in Llanwst, Conwy. A man reported a swarm in a bird box in Northop Hall, Flintshire.
Further afield, a car was covered in bees in Cardiff and a swarm forced a Chepstow shoe shop to close. While beekeepers say swarming bees are not particularly dangerous, the sight of so many has caused a degree of alarm.

Not too bad an article, but it shows the misunderstanding that a swarm in a tree is setting up home, when really it is parked temporarily while it chooses somewhere...
I understand that N Wales has a lot of beekeepers trying to develop a strain which can cope with Varroa by themselves, I wonder whether this correlates with let-alone beekeeping and hence the number of swarms?

[marshman]

Exactly what the guy who collected this lot told me. Resting place while they scout out a new home. Wasn't too keen on this lot, close to the house and only a few feet from where we park the car! I usually see a swarm "on the move" every other year. There is a guy who has about 20 odd hives at the edge of our back field, if I see a swarm then I just give him a call and he "collects " them. We have had three "rest" in bushes close to the house in recent years.

[renewablejohn]

Think there is something to be said for let alone bee keeping or at least greatly reduced attention. Neighbor is obssessed with her smoker and after 3 days on the trot pratting around with her hives they started swarming and have not stopped until every hive has now swarmed. Not a great fan of a smoker and normally do the gentle touch without.

[marshman]

Think there is something to be said for let alone bee keeping or at least greatly reduced attention. Neighbor is obssessed with her smoker and after 3 days on the trot pratting around with her hives they started swarming and have not stopped until every hive has now swarmed. Not a great fan of a smoker and normally do the gentle touch without.

Agree, I only see they guy with the hives down here a few times a year, and rarely with a smoker.

[renewablejohn]

Dont know whether its just from next door but 4 swarms in a week is a bit much even for me. Its not even silage time which is when we normally have swarms disturbed from the fields. Have now run out of spare hives so any suggestions for temporary accomodation thats easy to knock up.

[marshman]

Honey bees aren't that active down here yet, been a cool North Easterly breeze for days, temperature rarely getting above 15 or 16 deg C and dropping to 6 to 8 deg C overnight. When it's sunny there are plenty of bumbles about, even some of the rarer ones and have seen a few solitary bees, but it's still early in the season down here.

[AE-NMidlands]

Dont know whether its just from next door but 4 swarms in a week is a bit much even for me. Its not even silage time which is when we normally have swarms disturbed from the fields. Have now run out of spare hives so any suggestions for temporary accomodation thats easy to knock up.

It is a bad year around here too...
Any old/retired boxes at all? Or even drawn-out supers not yet in use this year? Last year - or maybe the year before - I had put some of my first (now 40-yr old) empty plywood supers aside as they were getting too tatty to use, also old solid wood supers which were either never deep enough in the first place or have shrunk... Come a bumper year for honey and nucs created during swarm control and the bees need more space! So I had to drag them back into use. (I can't face extracting spring honey early in the summer (which is an option for an over-full hive) and having to do the job twice - or feeding them if the weather turns nasty in June or July!)

So first scrub up and blowlamp out-of-use brood boxes, floors etc., then second best, put pairs of empty supers together (or 3 for 14 x 12s) with just a few brood frames and a dummy board either side of them as initially the swarm/cast will not need a full-size box. Square of fabric instead of a crown-board.
One year we came home from holiday to find that 2 casts had moved in to stacks of drawn-comb supers which weren't completely bee-proof... they were happy enough and I just had to rearrange the spacing to 11-to-a-box while they had brood in and retire the frames at the end of the season.

Alternatively, take out your least attractive queen, give them loads of smoke or scented water spray and put the swarm in on top, or chuck several small ones in on top of each other in an empty box and let them decide which queen to keep...
A

[renewablejohn]

Already done that. My original MD hive that I got from a lovely man in Cumbria back in 92 has been brought back into service even though i know i will never be able to lift it when it is full as i struggled even back then. As you say double up with dummy boards could be the answer I am looking for.