Five swarms in two weeks

The mild winter has left the five beehives with strong colonies and with some half decent weather they’ve been able to fly, collect nectar and pollen and breed.

So much so that these strong colonies have obviously been keen to divide and it looks as if each one has swarmed in the last two weeks.

Two swarms have been in an oak tree just 20 feet from the apiary, a third in an ornamental Korean Fir on one side of it, the fourth in a hawthorn on the other side of it. Today, the fifth went the other way and flew up into the hedge above the hive from which it came.

There are still plenty of bees in the original hives, though it is not always possible to tell which have swarmed without a closer inspection. But with four of the fives swarms safely collected, we’re now more than fully stocked with bees for what could be a very productive summer.