Yesterday - two swarms. The UEA Permaculture Allotment Bees

I picked up a small swarm in Long Stratton that was in a garden shrub. I was able to cut the twigs with the bees on of and put them into my box.

For the second time this year I have been called to a garden that I have picked up a swarm from before. The Wymondham swarm was on a buddleia and with aid of some loppers a branch of that was also cut of with the bees on it and put into the box.

Both of these had an old sticky frame of stores put into the box first to help persuade them to stay. I will now be keen to see if it worked as the last swarm I collected and took to Postwick didn't stay in the box I put them in.

On the students plot, from one swarm picked up at the UEA in 2007, there are now four laying queens (three in hives and one in a nuc box) and there are two nuc boxes with bees in. I gave the two nuc boxes a small patch of queen eggs each (from my Greengage hive) to see if they need to make queen cells.

The UEA bees are quite tough and reasonably OK to handle but there are probably too many in the one place now. I had three hives last winter and will probably take the bees in the nuc box to Old Costessy soon.