One That Got Away

The phone rang about 3.00pm last Saturday. It was a warm sunny day. Our Christmas visitors had left about midday, I'd been shopping down at Pakenham and was ready for a bit of peace and quiet. "Who could this be?" I thought picking it up. "Hello."

"Is that you Carey? This is Dawn Smedley."

Dawn is Bob's wife at Mt.Burnett. My mind quickly put two and two together.

"Hi Dawn. You've got a bee swarm, yeah?"

"How did you know?"

"Looking out the window at the balmy sunny day, as soon as I knew it wasn't a regular caller, it just came to me. I usually get a call in November or see a swarm well before now. The weather's slowed 'em up this year."

"I'm just ringing in case you want them. They're hanging in a magnolia tree near the track to Lennie's, just past the big oak."

Lennie lives in the old house where the kids grew up with their parents Lionel and Vera. Bob and Dawn live next door on one side and Don and Barb on the other. I met Lionel through his granddaughter Linda who used to work in the Gembrook supermarket before she married and had kids. I picked foliage and blossom at Lionel's for years before he died and I still do.

"I've got some frames and foundation in the shed Dawn, I'll put them together this arvo and give you a ring in the morning. If the swarm's still there I'll come over and get them."

As it turned out I didn't have new frames and foundation in the shed. The parcel I'd had posted up by the beekeeping supplies people some months earlier had a couple of new boxes in the flat and some bits and pieces. I meant to order frames and foundation in the spring so the foundation was nice and fresh but I must have forgot, and then thought I'd done it and the parcel was it, but no. I had sticky combs, but swarms don't like stickies, they love foundation wax as they're ready to build new comb. I washed the stickies and found a box and base and lid thinking I may as well get the bees. I hadn't been to the Smedley's for a while and was too busy to get that way and pick pre Christmas like I usually do.

When I got there on Sunday Dawn wanted to watch me box the swarm. Bob stayed well away as he's allergic to bee sting. I shook them out the tree onto my hession bag and the bees obliged after a few minutes by 'walking' into the hive I'd put on the ground at one end of the bag. Dawn was fascinated.

There was quite a mass of bees still outside the hive, on the front face. Some stragglers flew back up to where the swarm was on the tree branch. I shook them down again. I had to go. I explained to Dawn that I'd come back at dusk and get them when they were all inside. I was confident they'd all go in even though I hadn't seen the queen, but I told Dawn it was still possible they may decide to go somewhere else.

I went back after 8.00pm, expecting to wait a few minutes while the late ones came home before locking them in and taking them home. Dawn saw me arrive and came over, saying after I left earlier the ball of bees returned to the tree, almost as big as before, but when she checked later it had gone and there were bees flying in and out of the box so they must have gone in.

That didn't sound right to me, so I lit the smoker and lifted the lid. There were few bees there. The queen musn't have gone in, instead flying back into the magnolia, causing the other bees to join her. Then they've taken off for a new home of their own choice, leaving only a small mumber of stragglers which were now in my box. Dawn was disappointed that I'd spent time and effort and two trips all for nothing. I explained that when you work with bees you have to be accepting that it's not all smooth sailing.

I put the hive with the stragglers near my other hives. I was up early and reduced it's entrance next morning so that my big hives didn't rob it. I'd put a frame of young brood in to help catch the swarm which would have been surrounded by fresh nectar. I didn't like to think of the stragglers, who were clustering on the frame of brood, being killed in a robbing attack.

A few hours later, after thinking about it, I moved it along a few feet to the end of the row and gave it a couple of frames of hatching brood from the hive next to it. I put three empty boxes on top of the lid, and took the sheet of tin that was on top of the hive next to it and put it on it instead. Now it looked similar to the other hive, so most of the returning bees from the strong hive started returning to it instead, bolstering it's numbers.

The next day the weather turned again and I haven't been back to check, but I'm assuming my 'new' hive is busily rearing a queen, which of course it'll need if it's to survive. I'll be interested to check when the weather improves.

Speaking of the weather, it's been amazingly cool. Too cool for bees and honey really. I hope it hasn't mucked up the red gum flow up north, which needs hot stable weather really to have a big flow. We had 15ml of rain last night and I'm loving it from my gardening point of view, but it must be the coolest summer in my memory. SO FAR.