This is the swarm I caught in a bait hive early in the summer, not from one of my hives. The queen was unmarked but she laid immediately so it was a prime swarm. I marked the queen green (2019 colour) although I obviously didn't know how old she was. Two weeks ago the colony was thriving but had put up three charged queen cells. With only three I thought there was a chance they might be for supersedure. However, as the colony was short of space, with brood on all 11 frames plus a fairly full super, I took out the queen cells and put in an extra brood box full of foundation.
A week later the bees had drawn out all the new frames and nearly filled them. Five new frames also had eggs and I found no more queen cells. I didn't spot the queen but wasn't really looking for her.
Today, another week later, I found brood in all stages, including plenty of eggs. Then on the 14th of 15 brood frames I found two sealed queen cells.
And on the 15th brood frame I found an unmarked queen!
I went back carefully through all the other frames but couldn't find a marked queen. I also found no sign of a recently opened queen cell.
So now I am not sure what is going on. There is obviously a laying queen in the hive and the queen I saw today is probably a new superseded queen, although it could be that all the green paint has been chewed off the original queen (who was still well painted when last seen). If this is a new queen it is odd that there are two new queen cells.
This time I have assumed the bees know what they are doing. I have left things as they are and haven't yet marked the new queen.
I presume a prime swarm will have to supersede at some stage because it can't keep swarming with an older and older queen. I shall be very interested to see what I find next time.
More adventures. I did a split earlier in the year, putting the queen and some bees into a six frame nuc. They built up well and I added a second six frame box. I expected they would continue to thrive but the subsequent cool, windy and wet weather meant I didn't get to look at them again. I did, however, order some more foundation and I was happily making up frames yesterday, planning to give them more room today, when I heard the roar of a swarm. It had been raining in the morning and they chose a brief sunny spell on a very showery afternoon. I walked round to my neighbour's garden to check where they had landed and found them in a mahonia.
I saw black clouds coming in from the north and moments later it was pouring with rain. Plenty of time for a cup of tea and a check on England's (lack of) progress in the Test. When I got back an hour or so later there were a lot of very soggy bees, including quite a few on the ground. I wedged a nuc into the top of a stepladder under the swarm and gave the bush a good shake. A lot of bees fell in and I put a crown board partly on top and watched.
Some bees were fanning but most were mooching around. Then I noticed a flash of green amongst the throng. The queen was wandering around, mumbling and grumbling, asking whose idea it was to swarm on a day like this.
So I tipped her into the box and the others set about following her in, with lots of fanning at the entrance.
I put the box on the ground to encourage the bees there to go in and came home for another cup of tea and a check on the cricket (not good news).
After another heavy shower I looked again and most of the bees were inside. Later that evening I brought them home and set them up right next to where they started from. I just had time to pop in the frames I had made up earlier before it started raining again. This photo was taken under the shelter of an umbrella.
It is said that a swarm in July is not with a fly but this one is a fair size. If it builds up well it may go into the winter. If not I can unite it with the parent colony.
