This morning I worked on colony 13. I hope that this is the last time I have to make a significant reorganisation of their hive. I hope that I've corrected for the mistakes and difficulties which developed from having a nucleus roof with comb attached.
This is a summary of the colony before and after I did the work this morning:
I peeked at Colony 13 inside Hive H. There is nothing there: no comb and no cluster of bees.
I was uncertain whether there was a Queen after I'd found a dead Queen in the swarm box. I had put on a feeder on to stimulate them but I'd seen robbing in progress from Colony 11. It appears that robbing is all that's going on.
I don't know what has happened to the bees which I put into the hive. They may have dispersed to the other colonies on the roof.
When the feeder is completely empty I'll be able to see what is left.
I don't hold much expectation that Colony 13 will thrive. It is a small colony and vulnerable. It is building comb, but I still don't know whether there is a Queen. I haven't opened the hive. I've only looked at the hive floor, where there were wax platelets.
I had put a feeder on the hive a couple of days ago. My intention was that they should use he feed to build comb and concentrate on growing larger numbers of brood. There isn't much forage around and this is a small colony.
This afternoon I returned to the box within a box which contained Colony 13.
It was placed with it's opening almost directly in front of Hive H. How could they not be delighted with the hive and march straight in. Perhaps the bees had other things going on. I decided to act.
I brought a large white board up to the mouth of the hive and bridged it with white paper card. I then carefully removed the inner box and shook it onto the board. To my dismay the bees started going over the edge of the board but not into the mouth of the hive.
I was called today to an unusual situation: a swarm on the pavement outside a house on a fairly busy street. When I arrived the bees were like a splat on the ground. They were next to a low Privet hedge, so I suppose that they'd fallen out of that.
I spoke to the house owner and got a box. This covered the splat while I went for my swarm catching equipment. When I returned they had started to cluster on a flap beneath the box. I had brought a larger box so I carefully placed small box with bees inside the big box.