Operation Honeybee

[pressld2]

There’s a swarm of bees
In a hydrant chamber
Who you gonna call?
BEE BUSTERS!
(Well it's the Sidcup Bee Association really but it doesn't fit).

I’ve posted before about the honeybee nest in a hydrant chamber at Crossness Nature Reserve. It was lovely to have them there and great to have a chance for some close-up photos but sadly, they couldn’t stay. There is a great deal of work going on at Crossness at the moment and access was required to a valve at the bottom of the chamber. So with the aid of the Sidcup Bee Association, today was the day for...

Drum roll please...

Operation Honeybee!

We gathered at the appointed time and David Rea from the SBA briefed us on the mission and told us what to expect. Then we donned our bee-suits taking care to tuck the trousers tightly into our wellies (or in my case my socks) and made sure all the equipment was in place and ready, including putting elastic bands around the hive frames to hold the honeycomb in place...



Then it was time to open the chamber...



The chamber lid was suspended between two workmates and the honeycomb carefully cut off and transferred to the hive frames...





There was quite a lot of comb still in the hydrant chamber too, and this had to be cut out and also transferred to the hive frames...



Then it’s simply (simply?!) a matter of getting as many bees as possible into the hive and hoping you’ve got the queen too. What’s the best way to do this? A vacuum cleaner of course!



This contraption, which was rigged up by David Rea, acts like a giant pooter and collects the bees in a large sealed bucket. You need a vacuum cleaner with an adjustable suction so you can have a reasonably gentle suck. The collected bees are then tipped into the hive...



No slacking - there's loads more to be hoovered...



Now we wait until nightfall with our fingers firmly crossed that we got the queen. If she is in the hive then all the other bees will find her and go to her, but if she’s still in the hydrant chamber they will all come out of the hive and go to her there. Then we’ll have to try again tomorrow.



I'll let you know the result as soon as I hear, but in the meantime I'll leave you with this thought...

If we did get the queen then at some point tonight someone is going to pick that box up, put it in the back of his car and drive off with it. Rather him than me!

Dave P.

[Hedera]

Congratulations on a well-co-ordinated gather! Looks a strong little colony. Shall you be leaving all the comb for them for the winter? There would be room for some frames with foundation for more storage. They'll probably stick it all together with brace anyway. Good pictures of the operation, too.

[Beekeeper]

That is an unusual place for honeybees to gather, i have retrieved bees from all sorts of odd places but never a hydrant pit, generally in my area they are either full of mud or water when the valve leaks or buried in brambles or under gravel drives.

The most odd one i had was the interior of a car, they flew in through an open window when to owner was working in a pub and settled down by the back window.

Ian

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Hedera

Congratulations on a well-co-ordinated gather!

Thanks! I have to confess that it didn't all go quite as smoothly as I've made it look. Because the comb was attached to both the chamber walls and the lid, the attachment to the lid was weakened when we lifted it. Some of the comb dropped off but we managed to rescue most of it.

Originally Posted by Hedera

Looks a strong little colony. Shall you be leaving all the comb for them for the winter? There would be room for some frames with foundation for more storage.

I'm not really sure. There was definitely room for some empty frames. I think the plan is to leave them as undisturbed as possible over the winter.

Originally Posted by Hedera

They'll probably stick it all together with brace anyway.

Brace? Is that the same as propolis? There was a lot of that on the rubber gloves they lent me and it was fun trying to get it off the camera afterwards!

Originally Posted by Hedera

Good pictures of the operation, too.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Beekeeper

That is an unusual place for honeybees to gather, i have retrieved bees from all sorts of odd places but never a hydrant pit, generally in my area they are either full of mud or water when the valve leaks or buried in brambles or under gravel drives.

Yes, David Rea said the same. He's keen to get the photos for his annual report as he reckons it's a one-off. He told us that all the books and experts agree: bees never nest underground because of the risk of flooding. I always knew that Crossness is unique!

Originally Posted by Beekeeper

The most odd one i had was the interior of a car, they flew in through an open window when to owner was working in a pub and settled down by the back window.

One of David's favourites was in an old chimney due for demolition. Not an unusual location but they'd been there for years and the comb was over five feet long. I've heard of them using pillar boxes too. Bit of a shock for the postman!

Dave P.

[Hedera]

Brace comb is what they build to bar across gaps, or fill up spaces. as children we used to love chunks of it to suck when my father was clearing the supers for extraction. Propolis is good for your health, as it is antiseptic. Costs a lot in health shops! Used to chew a lump for toothache, but it tastes horrid.

[Beekeeper]

Originally Posted by pressld2

Yes, David Rea said the same. He's keen to get the photos for his annual report as he reckons itoff. He told us that all the books and experts agree: bees never nest underground because of the risk of flooding. I always knew that Crossness is unique!



One of David's favourites was in an old chimney due for demolition. Not an unusual location but they'd been there for years and the comb was over five feet long. I've heard of them using pillar boxes too. Bit of a shock for the postman!


Dave P.

Yes it is very unusual for honey bees to nest below ground Dave, the only things i have ever found in hydrant pits were worms and on a couple of occasions a dead slow worm and the other, a dead grass snake, goodness knows how either of them found their way into a concrete pit unless it was underneath the pit cover frame.

I always used to get a yearly call from one person who lived in a mansion re swarms of bees, i retrieved probably around six over the years which had come from a huge chimney at the end of the house, lovely bees they were too, it would have been interesting to know just how big their combs were as they had apparantly been there many years.

Ian

[pressld2]

Sadly it looks like we didn't get the queen and she may have been in the lump of comb that fell off. Not too sure what the outlook is for the rest of the colony without her.

Oh well, at least we tried...

Dave P.

[Beekeeper]

Originally Posted by pressld2

Sadly it looks like we didn't get the queen and she may have been in the lump of comb that fell off. Not too sure what the outlook is for the rest of the colony without her.

Oh well, at least we tried...

Dave P.

That is a shame Dave, however all is not lost, the beekeeper who collected them may be able to introduce another queen to the colony or a queen cell, the other option is a frame of eggs from another colony which would be used for queen rearing by the queenless colony.

Ian

[pressld2]

There were some eggs in the some of the comb that was collected on the day. The hope now is that they'll raise a new queen, but I guess it will be a while before we know if they've done that.

Dave P.

[Beekeeper]

Originally Posted by pressld2

There were some eggs in the some of the comb that was collected on the day. The hope now is that they'll raise a new queen, but I guess it will be a while before we know if they've done that.

Dave P.

That is good and it is not to late in the year so i expect they will raise a new queen on their own, hopefully if a young queen mates with a drone from the same nest it will preserve the strain of bee, it is suprising just how variable honey bees can be in temperament and willingness to collect nectar.

I aquired a swarm a few years ago and they really were special, a beautiful light grey in colour and they really worked their socks off gathering nectar, also their temperment was lovely, i could work with them without any means of protection at all and they just did not sting, sadly they succumbed to a disease which broke my heart as i would have used them for breeding purposes.

I have however this year, aquired another swarm with similar attributes, although the normal colour they seem to be really hard working and have a lovely temper, i actually tidied up the hive the other day wearing just shorts and they just went about their business and seemed totally oblivious to me taking their home apart and inserting new frames of foundation etc.

I would think that any bee colony that takes up residence in a hydrant pit is worth saving if possible as it shows that they can adapt and survive.

Ian