The Accidental Nuc

When I moved the hives here in May, I brought two colonies, each in a medium super, and one tiny, tiny colony in a nuc. I was pretty sure the nuc colony wouldn't survive, but I decided to let them Darwin it out. Indeed, the colony died out after a few weeks, while the other colonies thrived.

I left the actual nuc next to the hives, though, because it made a handy seat for watching the bees come and go. In fact, I moved it a bit yesterday to sit next to the South hive.

Today, the nuc is apparently inhabited by a new swarm. At least, I think it's a new swarm. I suppose I may have dropped the queen on the ground yesterday, and she walked over a new home... But somehow, that doesn't seem likely. And neither of my colonies swarmed--I was watching them all day yesterday. So if these aren't my bees, then I've gone and caught myself a swarm completely by accident.

And lest you think that bees don't swarm in August in New York, yep, they do. In fact, in 2004, one of my colonies swarmed in late September. Check out my September 25th entry from that year.

Their new home has five full frames of drawn comb in it. I think I'll let them settle in for a week, then check to see how they're doing. If all looks well, I can move them to a full deep and start feeding like mad--maybe add a frame or two of sealed brood to get them going.