Travel Nuc box to home

First fine day since I got the bees, I came home at 2 to find this scene.  Bees were obviously enjoying the sunshine, but are they gathering for a swarm, was the nuc box too small for this cluster!  Panic...........suit up Tweens!

          

No smoke, no hive tool, but a bread knife and a quickly donned suit, I grabbed a selection of screwdrivers, luckily one suited and I released the bees!  I moved the frames into the brood box of the hive with a quick check for the Queen. No luck no Queen seen but I had to assume she was on a frame.  At this point Tweens turned up and we were deciding what to do with the brace comb left at the bottom of the box when we spotted the Queen, she had a yellow spot (2012) and was running around the bottom of the box. 

         

She climbed onto a bit of brace comb so I lifted that above the brood combs and she dived for cover in the middle comb.  I put the Queen excluder on quick and took a breath.  It was a wee bit of a panic, in the hurry to give them more room before they moved out, we missed a few photo opportunities.      

        

But here is what we have. 

           

                                                                                      

 Eventually the stragglers all moved in.  I moved the hive to the position of the nuc so any flying bees could find their way home.

This was a couple of days later and the drones have been on their daily outing.  

 Bandit, thoroughly unimpressed.

And my little beekeeping buddy.  

Bees - Day 3 and Hunchback Chuck.

Well, its day 3 and the bees are still in their nuc box.  I have been waiting for a sunny evening!  On the up side, the weather was drier today and this evening they were queuing up outside the tiny hole taking in pollen.  We have a rape seed field close by, but they seemed to be coming in from the other direction and they were bringing in a light yellow pollen. 

A quick change of subject, has anyone seen or heard of a chicken with a deformed spine?  My bluebell, known as Yang has a curved spine and it appears to be getting worse.  She is happy enough and seems healthy, but when you run your finger down her spine, it has a definite corner. 

Its hard to tell on the pics, but its a wee bit of a strange one.

The below is Ying, She has a floppy comb, its like she has a designer fringe. 

 We did have a bit of fun watching the chickens chasing crows stealing their food tonight.  Although, the crows did have a 'brain' advantage.  They double teamed, one crow acting as a decoy while the other filled its beak. The chickens wouldn't normally bother, but they had a special veggie treat and were unwilling to share.

NEW BEES!

Unfortunately my bees didn't make it through the winter, with our damp summer, the move and a wasp attack, they just were not strong enough to make it through.  But....today i picked up a a nucleus of bees.

It was last minute as someone on the list above me had dropped out, so I was totally unprepared and in the small hatchback.  Too large to sit the right way in the boot so they were strapped in on the back seat.  The noise they were making, it sounded like they could take off with the box.  

There were a couple of stragglers outside the box, but luckily they were uninterested in me as I drove very carefully! 

 

 I dragged No 1 daughter into helping me.  Suit up!

 Nucleus was placed next to the hive I intend to put them in and I took off the tape and removed the foam releasing the bees.

They burst out of the exit, their frustration at being blocked in quite evident.  The first job they did was to remove a few dead bees, probably natural wastage after being stuck in the box. 

Crusty making friends. 

I thought I would get them a takeaway to help them settle in.  A couple of the girls had a look, but I think they were still too stressed to consider pollen collection.

A bit overdressed for chickens, but while we were out there, a bit of 'chuck chuck chuck' is always welcomed. 

 Hopefully the bees will have a good night and weather permitting, I will put them in their new hive in the next couple of days.

New Hens

Buttercup, chief Rooster.  

During the winter we had to buy some eggs, and it was noticeable how much better our eggs were. So we decided to boost our flock with a 3 more hens. 

All five feeding together, we are going to keep the new girls segregated for a week whilst they all get used to each other and in case the newbies have any disease   

All five again.  The new ones are a White Star, a Bluebelle and a Ross Lohman.  We had an egg already from the Ross Lohman (we think)

Just the girls. 

Buttercup big boy checking up on me, I think he will enjoy a bigger flock, he has always been a bit hen pecked with the other two with him being still quite a youngster. 

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Bluebelle   lovely hen, but the black feet are wee bit creepy!

All 5 getting to know each other

Odette is a White Star, a classy bird, all of the new hens are hybrids.

Rusty and Bluebelle, Ross Lohman and Bluebelle Hybrids

Big Boy Buttercup...posing for the camera. My old girls have been yakking all afternoon, they are not happy about the invasion of their old home.  They have been having sleep overs with Buttercup in his new home, so for 5 nights out of seven their home was empty.  I think they wanted to keep it as a summer home though, as they went on for hours!