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Not sure this is the right forum but i reckon bees are livestock...Swarm in our next door neighbours tree today - great fun watching them but really sadly we can't have a colony until we move so I've just blocked our empty hive entrance as they are starting to sniff round it - Carol saw them arrive and apparently the air was black but she didn't think to take a pic.

If any one wants a storm contact me asap and I'll help you box them

Exciting!
Perhaps the keeper of their home hive will be looking for them.
My M-in-L used to tell me that, when their bees swarmed she used to set off after them with a straw skep to collect them when they settled.
There`ve been several swarms of the hives on our allotments this week. Is it the warm weather that set them off?
Seems a few weeks early to me.
M-in-L also used to say, "A swarm in May`s worth a load of hay. A swarm in June`s worth a silver spoon."
Should have asked her what that meant before she passed on. Too late now.

Merry wrote:M-in-L also used to say, "A swarm in May`s worth a load of hay. A swarm in June`s worth a silver spoon."
Should have asked her what that meant before she passed on. Too late now.

If you had remembered the third line "But a swarm of bees in July isn't worth a butterfly" then maybe it would have become obvious.

An early taken swarm has enough time to store enough honey to keep them alive over winter and maybe produce a little extra for the bee keeper, where a late swarm you would have to feed, making it a lot less attractive.

Thanks Od!
Makes sense now. Wish I`d listened to her country lore when she was alive instead of thinking that she was `just droning on`. She was a Salisbury Plain shepherd`s daughter and then a smallholder`s wife and was always talking about the rural life.

Rick and Carol are the bees still available? The couple next to me on our allotments got their beehive on Saturday and are looking for a brood.

have pm'd you Graham but The swarm did what swarms do and moved on after a nights rest, I didn't want
to capture the swarm on the offchance somebody would want them and end up
with a box of 10,000 bees overheating but I knew if I didn't somebody would
make contact today - sods law really

To be honest I did come very close last night to relocating then to my hive
but Carol said she'd leave me if I did. - damn those sensible wives

When we did our beekeepers course last year they mentioned the swarm in may/june thing and of course with recent colony colapse syndrome a late captured swarm has the potential to be worse than not worth a butterfly as you could end up having to scortch the inside of the hive and destroy the frames to get shot of any disease left behind. Mind you I'd take a chance its all about the balance of nature and trying to put something back - or am I just sentimental

Thanks Rick & Carol, it was a shame because it was Sunday the neighbour told me that they had got their hive, but were having trouble sourcing the bees. But being such a nice day I worked up the allotment until 10.00pm that night, so didn't look at the computer until the following day. What an amazing coincidence if it had actually worked out.