Following on from my earlier post about the making of our long hive, it now has inhabitants.
I collected a swarm the other day. It was a fairly simple collection, hanging at head height in a tree. I knocked them into my skep and then waited whilst the stragglers and scout bees made their way back to the colony.
There will always be a few left behind, but, providing you are prepared to be patient and you have the queen in the skep, the others will follow.
Here you can see them in the skep and then after being knocked into the hive.
They quickly took to their new home and within a few hours had begun to draw out the small bits of wax foundation into comb.
With any luck they will have time this year to pull the comb out sufficiently to give them space to put honey for their winter store. This will set them up for a strong 2018, when we might get some cut comb honey from them.
This shows the inside of the hive.