I went to a factory yard yesterday where they had bees living in a packing case for some time at the back of the yard and had been ignored. There were 6 large combs which were heavy with honey; with plenty of brood and bees. I put the 5 combs with brood into frames with the help of masking tape with the excess comb being cut off and given to the lads in the workshop, piled up in someone's lunch box. I looked carefully for the queen as I went through but couldn't find her. The frames and some handfulls of bees went into a polynuc and I used the lid of the packing box as a ramp and threw the remaining bees onto it. There was the queen, so she has now been marked and caged. I'll take them away later. My best guess is that the colony had enough stores to have survived the winter without intervention but as a container is due to arrive on site soon, the bees need to go.
My intention was to reduce the number of colonies I had going into winter for this year - it seems that the numbers have crept up again!
My intention was to reduce the number of colonies I had going into winter for this year - it seems that the numbers have crept up again!
May your bees read the same books as you do.