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This article has been sent in by Mike at Flaxdale Apiary who is supporting Derwent Rural Counselling – if you need help with a swarm ring Mike on 390433.

I am alerted now and again by residents of Parwich who have found a swarm of bees on their land – what should they do?  Several weeks ago in July I found such a swarm hanging from the branch of a damson tree in my croft.  The following describes what I did next:-

1. Obviously you wear protective clothing and use a smoker when you work on a swarm!  In fact this swarm was not aggressive or troublesome at all and I did not bother with a smoker; swarming bees are not normally aggressive because they are engorged with honey. I laid a white sheet on the ground below the swarm covering as wide an area as possible. 

2. Using a skep (a woven straw basket shaped container used by beekeepers) or a cardboard box which is what I used, I placed the opened box immediately underneath the swarm with one hand and with the other I shook the branch onto which the swarm was attached and most of the clump of bees fell into the box.  You have to be quite skilful manipulating the box with one hand and shaking the tree branch with the other! This is even more difficult if you have to mount a ladder if the swarm is on an upper branch. A pair of secateurs is useful if you have to cut a stem off a branch.

3. Then I placed the box with the bees inside it on the white sheet on the ground with the opening to the box on its side just open enough for the bees to enter the box.  There were lots of other bees which had fallen on the white sheet and others flying around.  I used a feather  to sweep the other bees off the branch. You want all the bees to end up in the box!

4. I then left the box on the ground for several hours until the early evening. The natural instinct of swarming bees is to protect the queen which sends out pheromones to alert them of her presence and instruct the bees to surround her and keep her fed and warm at a temperature of 34ºC. Of their own accord all the bees on the ground and the flying bees gradually disappear into the box where it is dark, like a hive, their temporary resting home.

5. During this period I had time to make up a new hive. This comprised a base frame, a base board, a wire mesh screen, a brood chamber with eleven frames of foundation (bees wax sheets impressed with hexagon forms from which the bees draw out the comb), a syrup tray, a crown board and a roof. I spent all afternoon making this up, but it is good practice to have one already made up, ready for a swarm. For the health of the bees it is best that this new hive is sterilised to keep the colony healthy. I also dissolved 3 kg of sugar in 2 litres of water in a preserving pan to make a gallon of syrup.

6. In the early evening, donning my protective clothing, I went back to the box on the white sheet on the ground, and lo and behold all the bees, which were previously outside the box on the ground or flying around, had now made their way into the box to join the rest of the swarm.

7. I gently closed the box and sealed it with sellotape as a precautionary measure to prevent the bees falling out. I carefully lifted the box off the sheet and placed it nearby on the ground. I then picked up and folded the white sheet and took it up to the new hive, where I opened it out again but with one end leading up to the hive entrance.

8. I returned to collect the box containing the swarm and took it up to the hive.  I opened the box and poured the bees onto the white sheet, tapping the box to make sure that all the bees came out of the box.  It is very important to make sure the queen bee comes too.  Without a queen the colony of bees dies.

9. There then follows one of the most remarkable things in nature.  Bees have a natural tendency to walk uphill on a white sheet until they meet the entrance to the hive through which they go of their own accord!  This takes about an hour for all the bees to disappear into the hive.  The two photographs above and below show the bees climbing up the sheet into the hive.

10. I then took the roof and crown board off the top of the hive and poured in a gallon of syrup onto a tray from which the bees could feed at their leisure.  I then put back the crown board and roof and the job was done.  It is best to feed a swarm for two reasons: they will be depleted of honey and you don’t want the bees to spend time and energy flying outside the hive in search of fodder when their primary task is to draw out the comb, into which the queen lays her eggs, and the bees store their fodder, honey and pollen.

11. There is a folklore saying “A swarm in May is worth a load of hay, a swarm in June a silver spoon, a swarm in July is not worth a fly”.  The later you collect a swarm in the summer the less time there is for the bees to accumulate stores of honey to survive the winter months.  I do not expect any honey from this swarm.  My main concern is to help the bees build up comb and food reserves to get them through the winter and feeding with syrup in this early stage is the best way to do it.  I keep my fingers crossed that the queen has been hived as well.

12. I have just inspected the hive, several weeks after the hiving, to see if there is a queen and whether she has started laying new eggs. Capped brood are the cells containing bee larvae which has been capped with wax and looks distinctive compared to other cells which contain honey or pollen. I am pleased to say that there is capped brood in the hive which proves that  I have got the queen.  With a bit of luck the bees will store up sufficient food reserves (honey and pollen) to get them through the winter. Next spring I am hopeful I will have a strong hive from which, with a bit of luck, I may get some honey a year from now.

13. Last year I collected such a swarm from an apple tree in Nia’s garden.  This hive is now a strong hive and I am hopeful of collecting some honey from it this August. I have also collected swarms from Peter and Mary’s back garden, the tree outside the telephone exchange and high up in a fir tree in Simon and Tracey-Ann’s backgarden.  However I was defeated in collecting a swarm of bees in the chimney at The Fold; swarms that lodge in brickwork are not possible to collect. Another swarm in Dorothy’s woodland had moved on by the time I was alerted.

14. If anyone finds or hears of a swarm and wants it collected just ring 390433 and I will do what I can to help.

15. I am hopeful of collecting some honey in the next few weeks. This honey is not for sale, but if I get a surplus I will gladly give it away to anyone who is willing to support the charity, Derwent Rural Counselling Service.

Mike at Flaxdale Apiary