So I got a call on the BeeSwarm website for a swarm in my postcode. I took the kids out to see it as it was a weekend and there it was nice and calm on the fence. This should have been an easy catch.
I had both the kids with me so loads of help and we got the swarm into the multi functional nuc box and left it with the QE on top to collect the rest until dark.
Nothing is ever as easy as it should be though.. So that evening i drove back to pick up the nuc box which had a good buzz. Put them into the hive and the box was nearly empty. No queen. the Queen had made it through the fence and into the neighbors garden. By the next day they were 18 foot up a tree.
A few days later I get a call that they have returned to the ground and can I have another go. so back i go to put them in the box again. This time they were just on a tree and low down. I put them into the box and gave instructions on how to close the box after dark only to find that they returned to the tree.
In the end I resorted to the Bee Vac the following morning and got them all up into the box and put the whole lot into the red hive to join their sisters. They seem to have settled in well but the week long homelessness will probably take it’s toll.