Colony 16

I took a quick look at the stuff which has been falling out of Colonies 15 and 16 today.

The removable tray under Colony 15 had lots of new wax platelets, indicating that they're busy building comb. There were also at least 3 Varroa bodies. This shouldn't be a surprise. Varroa are in all the colonies which I've encountered. This period after swarming has no brood so all the Varroa in the hive are clinging to the bees. Every mite which dies now does so before it can infest a brood cell, which is good news.

I received a call at lunchtime today that there was a swarm settled in Portland Rd, Summertown, Oxford. I went immediately.

The swarm was big. It was in the lower branches of an apple tree where it hung over a fence. I borrowed a ladder and just knocked the bulk of the swarm into the box and waited while they got organised. In went the remainder. Boxed.

Collecting could hardly have been quicker or easier. From phone call to me leaving with a box of bees was only just over an hour. Quick work given that I must have taken 30 minutes just to get there.