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.
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