A Patient Man

Ron called me on Friday afternoon to tell me he had a swarm of bees, and would I like them?

WOULD I LIKE THEM!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Yes please, I'd like them very much, thank you!

That very morning on the Tube, I'd been thinking resignedly, "ah well, I won't get my bees this year. That's alright, we'll just have to wait till next year." My beautifully constructed hive had been sitting, forlornly empty, at the bottom of the garden for about six weeks. Guy and I had a fabulously entertaining time, constructing it - see here.

Yesterday I breezed into the house after work and found Ron and Guy sitting on the back porch, enjoying a cup of tea and a chat together in the pleasant warmth of the evening sunshine. Far down the end of the garden a well-sealed box waited for us. Naturally, in my own imitable way, I had left everything to the last minute and had to run around, mixing up a sugar solution in a home-made contact feeder, hauling on my hot-as-hell bee suit, scrabbling around for a new pair of nice, thick, sting-resistant gardening gloves and eventually, klutzing around with my new, untested smoker as Ron gently coached me through it all - the very essence of a patient man.

Sooner than I'd expected we were down at the hive, Ron was shaking his Langstroth frames free of bees in the white smokey air above my British National frames and the space around us was filled with buzzing, disoriented bees. (Oh please, don't let this disturb my neighbours too much!) As he hauled out the heaviest frame, I was convinced I caught a glimpse of the Queen, massive dark body standing out against the light frame and surrounding bee bodies. "I'm not looking for the Queen," said Ron as I exclaimed out loud. Preoccupied, he continued to focus on shaking out the frames as quickly and controlled as possible.

Gently I placed the contact feeder directly onto the frames in the space surrounded by the super box, and gently Ron lay a white cloth at the foot of the hive entrance, to allow thousands of grounded bees to gradually struggle their way up the slope and into their new home. What an absolute joy to behold!

Ron gave a good-natured smile as he watched me fumble with hive tool, bee brush, frame cloth, frames and smoker. Soon, I hope, this will all be familiar enough to me to be second nature.

We left the Queen Excluder between the hive entrance and the brood box. This will stay on for a week, confining the Queen and allowing her time to settle in and identify her new home. I must check the feeder in a few days to see if the bees need more feed - but only one more; not too much reliance on "artificial" food. In a week the Queen will be free to fly her mating flight if she so desires.

Ron showed me the darkest frame, the one I'd seen her on. It was filled with the white brood and thickly surrounded by nectar supplies. He'll take that home to see if he can save it all by putting it back inside one of his own hives. It's good to see that the Queen has been actively laying.

This morning Guy and I crept down to the hive. It was early for them, but there were 4 or 5 guards on duty at the entrance. They were licking each other; one or two bottoms waggling gently.

A good sign, then!