A lot of buzzing going on, bees

[Blaze]

That's wonderful, particularly saving the queen. All that lovely honey ! Bet the apiculteur was pleased !

[RobertArthur]

Not an everyday experience, the taste of pure honey and amiring the hard work of professional DIY guys. Just doing what they've been doing for millions of years, no formal education, no protocols, no CAD/CAM software for design and construction, no building permits, they just know how to do it.

[Lori]

Wow, must have been quite a sight to see. How do they recognize the Queen (honestly, I have no idea)?

What will they do with all those bees ?

[RobertArthur]

Lori, the queen is larger and this is her duty. Removal services by the beekeeper to his field about 11 km from here where he has installed a new hive. Closer than 3 km and the bees fly home guided with pinpoint precision by their GPS.

[Lori]

Fascinating !

[exile]

That's wonderful, particularly saving the queen. All that lovely honey ! Bet the apiculteur was pleased !

Sadly I doubt it @Blaze .


As mentioned earlier, the bees will need that honey to survive the winter.

Remember:
A swarm of bees in May is worth a cart of hay.
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon.
A swarm of bees in July isn't worth a fly.

I'll extend

A swarm of bees in August, the beekeeper is bust.

or

A swarm of bees in aout is frankly worth nought.

Edit to add: you probably need a Yorkshire accent to make that last rhyme work. as in nought rhymes with out.

[Blaze]

As mentioned earlier, the bees will need that honey to survive the winter.

The bees will have to be given supplementary feed - for a good swarm like that, it might be worth it.
We let an apiculteur have several hives our land when we lived in 49. After an extremely hot and dry spring and summer, they died during the cold winter that followed. He told us he should have given them supplementary food/sugar but the problem was that he lived about 2 hours away ....

[exile]

Yes I know that's how some keepers work but isn't is strange to take away the honey (essentially sugar) and then feed the bees with a sugar solution (honey with all of the good bits removed)?

[Blaze]

@exile Yes, it does seem strange. The natural product would surely be better.

[RobertArthur]

Those bees use a patented super glue for their construction work, took us some time to remove the last footprints, chapeau for these little bricoleurs. Back again: a bathroom with a view.