Catching and Losing Colony 14

Yesterday I went to catch a swarm in Summertown, Oxford. The swarm was hanging from guttering above a first floor window.

The person who called me helpfully had a large ladder. After quite a bit of work we fixed it to the house and I approached the swarm. I was not delighted with the place that the swarm had chosen. When you are balanced 5 metres above ground on a porch roof it's best not to think about the ground.

The bottom half of the swarm was easy to catch. A quick swipe and they fell into the box. The remainder were in and around the guttering. Some were covering the roof tiles. Some were in the gap formed by the tiles where they overshoot the eaves and between the fascia and the guttering. There were lots of places to lose the Queen. Was she in the box already? I didn't know and I couldn't see any bees fanning pheromone which would have shown that she was there.

I gave the bees a few minutes to regroup. The bees in the box stayed there. The bees around the guttering stayed there. I had another couple of tries. Then I climbed down and sealed the box.

The couple who called me out were lovely and offered Tea.

I took the box of bees to my city apiary. At dusk I came back and poured them into the hive.

Today I returned to inspect them. The hive was empty.

It's not unusual for a colony to abscond. It can happen because they have found somewhere better; because they don't like where they've been put; or because they haven't been moved far enough away from their original nest. Any of these could be true for these bees.

As for whether I captured the Queen, I'm still unsure.