Bees bivouac on North face

Not only do our Church Bees thrive on the North face of this church but also on the South face and West face of the church tower. Well out of reach from passers by and shared with the swifts that nest in the upper tower.

At 7am the bees are seen tightly clustered but as the day warms will soon be flying busily into the large colony within

Bees here outside the wall cavity are clustered about two inches deep

The tower West face has a sparate colony half way up within a cavity of the stonework

The tower South face has yet another colony set within the stonework close to the clock face

And on the East face Swifts arrived on the 5th of August to nest inside the tower

TopBarHive Progress@1stJuly

Of the four hives now deployed one is empty, one is occupied by a queenless colony, one has a healthy colony building well while the fourth hive contains two colonies separated by two queen excluder followers where a communal honey store now contains two feeder jars. Hopefully this latter space (the middle third of the hive), will soon be their shared honey store.

My bait hive is now deployed near to a feral colony which is within the church stonework and hopefully I shall be able to capture another swarm that will soon be put into the empty hive.
At that point I anticipate being in a position to shake down the queenless colony so that the flying bees will return to any newly cought swarm and boost their number.

Eight frames of comb - This colony has a hive to themselves. Viewing panels on both sides and a veroa tray under the mesh floor

One comb removed and here I see  some brood

The other side has honey stores building up

The hinged top lid makes inspection very much easier

Two queen excluders form the centre section and keep the colonies at each end apart.

Sugar syrup feed jars 

Behind the queen excluder is a recent caught swarm

Combs at this end have been formed without foundation

An earlier cought swarm at the other end was given several top bars with some foundation on

Foundation seen at this end partly drawn out.  The sealing gasket neoprene is tacked on as a draught proofer.