The heavens opened for our first swarm
Very exciting news. We’ve had our first swarm, reports Kairos beekeeper, Grace Madden.
When bees swarm, half the hive take their queen and leave to find a new home. Luckily for us, someone was watching over us all that day. Very uncharacteristically, they decided to swarm on a day when the weather forecast was an 84% chance of a downpour accompanied by what turned out to be spectacular thunder and lightning! That meant the bees didn’t go far, which just as well as we were three novices dealing with a swarm for the first time. The bees were trying so desperately to keep the queen warm and dry, they huddled up and didn’t seem to notice us moving them to a new dry, warm hive.
A few days on now, they’ve established themselves as a new colony and are starting to find their feet after their dramatic adventure. What a glorious thing to witness from beginning to end. I will be forever grateful for that beautiful rainy afternoon.
Now we’re waiting to discover whether the comings and goings in one of our swarm traps means that we’ve caught another swarm. The traps are hand made by Kairos residents Emily, Chris and Terry – thank you, all.