Yesterday I was called to collect a swarm. It had settled in the space between a sliding window and its outside shutter. It was a nice sized swarm and a good catch. I hived it from inside the room and though I didn't see the queen, I immediately knew when she was in the hive, because of the change in behavior of the bees. At night I came back to move it to its new location---smack dab under the point of my location pin about ten meters from my front door. It replaces a hive that was there last year and absconded late in the autumn. Actually, I placed it on top of another swarm I had collected earlier (one deep broodbox on top of another deep broodbox). My plans are to unite the two swarms in a few days, giving the extra queen to my grandson, to replace some of his winter losses. The strong united family should give me a crop of honey as early as the spring extraction.
