Got a call from the place I rent bucket lifts, said they had a swarm on one of the buckets.
Removed bees from an apartment bldg. I caught a swarm from this hive this past week, the one on the brick wall. I caught three queens, two virgins one mated.
There were several hatched queen cells. Bees were extremely gentle and good workers. I will be looking to use this hive for splits/grafting in the future.
Saw something I have never run across in this hive. Three sealed queen cells when opened had workers inside. One was dead, two walked right out.
I spoke with Alan Bukley and he said this is not a rare occurrence. Queens will hatch out, then workers will enter, but are sealed inside the cell, accidentally.
This blew my mind as it doesn't seem like something bees would ordinarily do, but I saw it with my own eyes.
Last set of pics is of a swarm that I am calling "Charles Manson bees" as they are sooooo polite!
Pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/112138792165178452970/April22010#...JP (worn out!)