Cardona and son's New website

For those of you who haven't seen our first ever website - Check it out! We'd love to know what you think...  www.cardonaandson.co.uk

Another Colony Saved. Bee Removal from Bedroom Ceiling...

 

This kind of removal is known as a cut out. By cutting a hole in the ceiling I was able to remove the colony piece by piece. The owner of the property will have to get a builder in to replace the plasterboard and plaster over the hole. 

 Each piece of comb which had brood in it was then placed in pre-prepared frames held together by elastic. This gives the bees their brood back once I rehome them in a hive. 

                                                                            

This bit of honeycomb came down with the plasterboard

I removed eight frames of brood in total from the cavity and about 6 lbs of honey stores. There was room in the cavity for them to expand into but this colony would have more than likely swarmed in the next month.

I found the Queen about 40 minutes into the job. I was chuffed to bits. She was a nice, light brown looking Queen. Here is a picture of me holding her in the clip - knowing that she was safe and sound and I had her under control was the biggest part of the job done. 

Once I had the Queen it was easy to then entice all her offspring and worker bees into the hive. This is a image of the hive with combs inside and the Queen clip at the entrance. The other bees are attracted to her pheromones and will naturally gather wherever she is. This is why its so important to capture the Queen safely without squashing or hurting her. It makes the whole process a lot calmer and methodical.