In the first week of October half of our bees swarmed up into a tree nearby, probably with the old queen. Realizing that we have a short time to collect the bees as they could move onto somewhere else anytime soon, I was able to buy an eight-frame made-up brood box with waxed foundations.
The brood box was put into a large Bunnings hardware store cardboard box and I used my mobile scaffold and a metal frame to put the boxes about 6 inches below the swarm. I trimmed all the branches from around the bees to get better access and was able to cut the branch with the swarm on it and settle it into the double boxes and close the top. As it was now getting dark, I left the box on the frame overnight.
An old frame was recycled to make a stand for the Brood Box. The boxes with the bees in them were removed from the high stand and put on the base. The branch was carefully taken out of the Brood Box which had four frames in it and there was evidence of the bees starting to build comb onto the wax foundation. The other four frames were put into the brood box and there were a lot of bees inside the cardboard box but outside the brood box. When the cardboard box was carefully removed these bees were able to go into the Brood box.
The mat and lid were put on to complete the move. We now have two separate hives. Once the bees are all settled in and the queen is laying brood, I will transfer them into a new Flow Hive 2+ which I have ordered. I will keep the newly purchased brood box ready for next time we have a swarm visiting. We live in suburban Perth in Western Australia where there are flowering plants and trees all year around.
Maurice Werder
114 Manning Road, Manning
Western Australia 6152