9 June 2013

A wee swarm collection from York

A lovely swarm that I collected last night after a phone call from someone in their allotment. Bit awkward when they are so high up in a flimsy tree as you can't get the box up there. Pictures are a bit crappy as they are from a mapple.
They were very small bees. Smaller than all in my apiary which may mean they are feral? The reason I say that or think that is the foundation bee keepers use has slightly larger cells which makes the bees slightly bigger. Foundation is a sheet of wax with the comb impression on it that we put into a frame  from which the bees draw comb. I have left a few frames now that are without foundation but the bees are still making larger cells so I still don't know if there is any truth in this. I have read it but you can't always believe what you read especially in bee keeping! 20 ways to do the same task.

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