When trying to keep bees naturally it is considered best to use local bees rather than bees from abroad or even other areas of the UK. I was convinced that my extremely strong and healthy WBC hive would swarm so that I could house it in my new warre hive. No such luck. May, June and the beginning of July went by. The WBC colony continued to grow and store large amounts of honey without swarming.
The solution came with a feral colony that had set up home at the beginning of June in the rose arch in our friend Sue’s garden.
By the start of July it had made four combs. Sue was unhappy with the idea that the colony would die in the Winter without protection, so on the evening of July 10th we went on a rescue mission, armed with a warré box, a spray bottle of sugar water and a sharp hive tool.
We cut the combs from the arch and placed them into the box. Once the queen was in, the bees were quite happy. We waited until 9pm for returning bees to fly in, replaced the roof and brought it home in the car.
The Unkept Hive 