Where's that buzzing coming from?

Well, the answer to that question today was the boot of my car!

Yes, I finally got some bees. A lovely lady called Jennifer that I'd met at a club meeting a couple of months ago sent me an email saying that she had collected a swarm and they were in a nuc box at her house on the north shore. Sam and I were already heading over that way to collect some trade-me purchases so we jumped at the chance to add bees to our list of collections. I was a bit apprehensive about Sam coming because I know he's not too keen on bees but he assured me that as long as there weren't any flying around in the car he'd be ok.

So off we went, me armed with all my gear that to date (other than the hood) hadn't been used. Jennifer had written me a great list of instructions and I followed them to a tee. The nuc had a entrance with a turndial (similar to the lid of a salt shaker) that Jennifer had closed the night before. I donned my hood and picked up the box. There were about 30 bees that hadn't made it home, perhaps after a hard night on the town. They got left behind. We brushed the 30 'dirty-stopouts' onto the grass and carried the box to the boot of the car, Sam did his containment and safety check and we popped the buzzing box in. I was so nervous all the way home that they were going to die of heat exhaustion as it was a roasting hot day and we'd been held up in the morning so it was mid morning when we picked them up.

Once home I was excited and relieved to hear the deep, contant buzz coming from the box, phew, they made the journey. I sited the nuc box in the pet cemetery and left them there while I transferred all the hive components to the site and got suited up and fuelled my smoker. The site has good fencing, easy access for me and it is out of the way of people and pets. There is a lot of Japanese Honeysuckle and Gorse growing on the neighbouring land which we call no-man's land so I'm sure the bees will find plenty of nectar.

Whilst transferring the hive components the horses, especially Ella became interested in the activity so came over to watch, as did Sam. I went in all suited up and Ella and Sam stood at the gate and watched while Tarka stood a bit further back on the hill and also spectated. Jennifer had 3/4 depth plastic frames in the nuc, my boxes are full depth so the aim was to transfer as few of the 3/4 frames into my hive as they'll build additional comb onto the base to fill the void. I would have to inspect each frame to see if the queen had layed anything. With my smoker lit for the first time I opened the box expecting for a mass evacuation of bees but to my surprise only a couple flew out, all the rest stayed put. And when I say all the rest I mean ALL the rest. It was a huge colony, I was thrilled. I smoked the bees and they retreated down the frames into the box, carefully I removed the first frame laden with bees and inspected it. They'd begun building comb in the corner but it wasn't significant enough to warrant transferring to the hive, I also couldn't see the queen so I shook the bees into the hive and put the frame to one side. The second frame contained more bees and more depth to the comb, I couldn't see the queen but I decided that they'd worked hard on this frame so they deserved to keep it. On the third frame which had come from the centre of the nuc box, a good section of comb had been built and the frame was heavily laden with bees, I thought I might see the queen here but my untrained eye missed her. I identified a few drones in the mix though. I transferred this frame to the hive and realised that the 3/4 frames were a blessing for nervous little me as I wouldn't squish any bees under the new frame. I checked the remaining three frames for the queen and then brushed the scattering of bees from the frames into the hive, I gently slid the frames into place and brushed the remaining bees from the nuc box into the hive, gave it a light smoke and then put the mat and lid on and secured it with a strap. When I looked up Sam was still there, smiling from ear to ear and taking photos and Ella had decided it was boring and wandered off. There were bees buzzing around but they weren't angry, they were very quiet and compliant.

I think I inhaled more smoke from the smoker than a 60+ a day cigarette smoker so I'll need to be more clever in the placement of my smoker in future. All in all I was thoroughly pleased with the whole exercise and more than just a little impressed that I didn't get stung.

It is funny how the universe works, it was only late last week that I'd replied to an email about some nucs for sale, I missed out on them but I was directed to lady selling nucs for quite a bit more than I could afford to pay. I decided to think about it over the weekend and that's when I received the email from Jennifer. I was very fortunate, Jennifer gifted the bees to me and here is what she wrote: My payment will be that you enjoy learning and having bees (and look after them). And one day you help someone else out in some way. That way we all win.

So, my aim will be to keep you all updated on the progress of "Cleopatra's Colony" and provide you with some useful links.

The course I completed was the Introduction to Beekeeping course run by Auckland Beekeepers Club. I couldn't recommend it highly enough, I came away feeling well informed and couldn't wait to embark on this exciting pastime and get some bees of my own. The club meetings are also fantastic, there are plenty of knowledgable people willing to answer questions and you get to see a range of different hives at the club.

If you have a hive it needs to be registered, more about this once I've completed the process.