Settling into their new hive

We had originally planned to move the bees from their nucleus box into the hive at 9.30 but we when arrived the weather was seemed too cold to open the box and expose the bees to the low temperatures so it was decided to wait until noon and hope it doesn't rain! The bees seemed to agree and there weren't many venturing out of the box.

It is necessary in beekeeping to watch the weather carefully as it is recommended to only open the hive in dry weather when it is over 60F/16C.

On returning at midday the sun had come out and so had the bees. Dave, Denise and I donned our beesuits for the first time and went out to the hive. We smoked around the nucleus box to calm the bees-the theory is that bees being originally forest dwellers, when they smell smoke they go immediately into the hive and start to fill up on honey getting ready to evacuate! This works in our favour as while they're stuffing themselves they are not bothering us. After smoking the box we slowly removed the lid. We had made a space in the middle of the brood chamber in the hive and, one by one, we took each of the five frames out of the nucleus box and into the brood chamber. We then picked up the box, turned it upside down, and banged it to remove any remaining bees into the hive. The hive was placed in exactly the same position as the nucleus box had been, so any returning bees would enter the hive and not the box.

The crown board was placed on top and a feeder bucket placed upside down on top of the hole in the crown board. The feeder contained about 2 litres of ambrosia and the liquid should gradually drip down through the mesh to feed the bees. We left the bees looking a little confused at first but they soon settled down and were seen leaving and entering the hive.

The Bees Arrive!

The bees arrived early Tuesday morning, brought by Denise in her car(!) from local beekeeper Doug Jones. The bees had been supplied to him by a farmer friend in a remote area of West Wales and are Carniolan honey bees (Apis mellifera subsp. carnica), which are a subspecies of the Western honey bee.

The bees came packaged in a reinforced waterproof correx box with ventilation mesh and an entrance plug which, once opened, served as the bees front door! The box contained a nucleus colony of a queen and five Hoffmann frames. The box was placed on the hive stand at 8am and were left for 24 hours to acclimatise to their new home before we move them into their new hive. By the afternoon the bees were happily coming in and out and buzzing around the plants in the roof garden.

The hive was also put on the National Bee Unit's voluntary register Beebase (run by DEFRA) which means we can ask the local bee inspector for advise on controlling any future pest and disease problems.