Nuc and a swarm

It appears that when I made up my latest nuc I didn't select the brood frame very well. Around midday Saturday I noticed a lot of bee activity around a Kowhai tree in the natives corner. Closer inspection revealed a small swarm. I'd be surprised if this swarm lasted very long unaided especially given the cold nights we are having in Christchurch at present I set about collecting it.

A full inspected of the top bar hive yesterday had revealed no queen cells so the swarm can't have originated from there. The swarm looked too big to have originated from the nuc but that was the only option left. It seemed unlikely that some else's swarm had settled near my hives.

I'm always amazed at the bees ability to communicate. The Queen Substance must be a very strong smell for them. Whenever a swarm is knocked from its perch there is a lot of confusion, bees flying everywhere, but within a few minutes things calm down and the bees collect around the queen again. I placed a nuc box under the swarm, knocked them off and waited. It no time at all order replaced confusion and the majority of the bees were heading in the same direction, into the nuc box.

A queen, seconds after hatching

The nuc was well populated, prior to the swarm, to I took this to mean they wanted more space. I replaced the nuc box with a full depth super and transferred the remaining population, which was still significant, across. It didn't take long to confirm where the swarm had come from. The photo on the left clearly shows several supcedure cells. Most were ripped open but one was in tact. I cut it off and help the queen hatch. She then flew away so I don't know whether she survived or not.

A sheet of newspaper, then a half height box prepared the new hive more merger with the swarm. After dumping the swarm into the half height I slipped the lid on and left them to it. The queens will fight it out I suppose and since they are both new I have no opinion on which one would be better - may the best queen win.