Buzzing again

Some may remember I lost my bees last year to Chronic bee paralysis virus  (CPBV) a disease I had never heard of & which is still being studied to try & determine the cause & hopefully a cure.

I had made the decision to quit beekeeping & sell off all my gear but one way & another hadn't got around to it.

Late yesterday afternoon, Angie was talking to friend MrsMY who suddenly exclaimed she had a huge bee swarm in the garden. She asked if I would remove it. It took me a while to collect up gear & I couldn't find exactly the right container to fit them in but eventually set off. Arrived just as another friend & my original bee godfather MrB was donning his gear to do the same. MrsMY's hubby didn't know she had "promised" me the swarm ad happened to see MrB, a neighbour, driving home & asked him to help.

Luckily MrB who has loads of bees was not in the least putout & left me to it. Eventually, after lots of messing around in less than ideal conditions & the wrong gear, I got most of the swarm into a cardboard box and waited a while to get the missing ones into some shoe boxes when they settled down.

Left the girls in the boxes overnight & today emptied them into an empty hive with some old partly built bee combs with a package of some sugar fondant so that he had some food & could start work. And sure enough, they did.

The weather forecast is dreadful for the coming days, everything but ideal for bees to be flying in. At the moment I don't even know if there is a Queen but somehow have the impression that they are quiet & happy in their new home. Placed them a long way away from the old hives and directly amongst a number of apple trees that are in early bloom.

Fingers crossed.