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Tim71
New Bee
Joined: 29 Jun 2013
Posts: 5
Location: Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex UK
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 Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 11:09 am Post subject: Very late swarm |
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I was called to a swarm at the local allotment this morning. It was small and I'm not sure of the best thing to do with it. I have a Warre hive that has a swarm housed in June and has an empty box. I have them in a flower pot at the moment. Could I combine them? Thanks.
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Barbara
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Jul 2011
Posts: 1857
Location: England/Co.Durham/Ebchester
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| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 11:24 am Post subject: |
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| If you have a spare hive with plenty of drawn comb, you could give them that and then feed them as much thick syrup as they will take. Otherwise I would remove the queen and combine them with another colony. Shame but really too late for them to start from scratch now in my opinion. |
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Tim71
New Bee
Joined: 29 Jun 2013
Posts: 5
Location: Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex UK
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| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the advice Barbara, much appreciated. I've combined them and they seem to have settled in together so far. Is a late swarm like this unusual? |
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Barbara
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Jul 2011
Posts: 1857
Location: England/Co.Durham/Ebchester
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| Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Simple answer..... Yes! Not totally unheard of but pretty much suicidal. They might be a swarm from a colony that is starving and therefore nothing to lose. Quite a few colonies are low on stores this year. I'm having to feed 3 which is extremely unusual. |
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Quality Top Bar Hives by Andrew Vidler
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Conserving wild bees
Research suggests that bumble bee boxes have a very low success rate in actually attracting bees into them. We find that if you create an environment where first of all you can attract mice inside, such as a pile of stones, a drystone wall, paving slabs with intentionally made cavities underneath, this will increase the success rate.
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Information about the Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
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