Dale Abbey swarm (Pt. 2)

With a break in the weather Shane and myself decided to collect the swarm from Dale Abbey. The householder, Nicola, was very happy for us to collect them late in the evening and hopefully this would allow as many bees as possible to return to the colony. On arrival the colony was very calm with only a few bees loitering above the gap I'd left in between the bars. As the swarm had been hanging on a small tree for a few days I made sure to put a feeder on top of the box (it contained about 1lt. of syrup which was all taken). The feeder needed to be removed in order to allow the lid to fit properly which did cause a bit of disturbance with a few angry bees taking flight. After some manipulation I managed to get all the bars in place so the only way in was now using the front entrance hole. We put the box on top of a dustbin to a-line the previous gap with the new entrance and retired to the pub to allow the stragglers to go inside. Half an hour later every bee was inside the box, and it was a simple procedure to plug the hole, wrap in a dust sheet and drop the box into the back of Shane's van. They will now be permanently located in Shane's garden in Nottingham; hopefully to thrive and prosper.

Shane tames the savage beast(s)