Yesterday was a wash out - rainy and cold and I didnt want to risk disturbing the bees. Instead I did my best to practice lighting the smoker - and failed dismally.
Robin arrived at 2pm this afternoon and we went straight out to try and find the Queen. Liam appeared to light the smoker effortlessly - although I felt slightly better when it fizzled out ten minutes later.
On lifting the crown board of the nucleus hive, it was obvious that the bees were desperate for more space. There were eggs in several frames and nearly all frames contained large expanses of sealed brood as well as honey. We went through the frames one by one initially with no success, but on coming back through the second time, Robin spotted the Queen. After a few false starts, I was able to manoeuvre her into a small tube capped with a piece of cork which we put down whilst transferring the rest of the colony into the main hive.
Rather than putting the nucleus frames in the middle of a full set of frames as I had expected, we added one new frame full of foundation to either side of the nucleus, and then added the dummy board. We now need to check their progress on Sunday - if they have drawn out one side of each of the frames, then we can turn them round before adding another frame each side at the next inspection.
Back in the house, I realised fairly swiftly that I wasnt going to be able to hold the Queen. Even though I knew she couldnt sting me, I was too worried I might inadvertently squash her wings or legs. Instead, Robin held her and I was able to quickly snip at her wings.
We then returned her to the tube which had a cork on a plunger at one end, and a cap like a grid at the other. Marking her took several attempts as she refused to stay still and the paint kept drying on the end of the matchstick I was trying to mark her with. She is now marked on her thorax with a rusty orange paint on the grounds that she is a) a swarm Queen and we dont know her age and b) it was all Robin had...
Once marked, we took her back to the hive. The foundation had been so well drawn out by the bees that it was very difficult to find a gap to "plunge" her down into once the grid cap was removed. I did my best but she seemed to go down onto the comb very slowly and was quickly surrounded by workers. We are concerned they may have smelt me on her and possibly "balled" her. This is another reason to check on Sunday for the presence of eggs so we can see if she is OK...
Accidents to the Queen dont seem to be that uncommon - when I emailed Norman my designated bee "mentor" about today he wished me luck and then went on to say not to worry in case of "problems" with the Queen - Donald from Frome division is apparently raising Queens for this purpose!
Fingers crossed for Sunday...
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