Colony cutout at Rhosfawr Caravan Park

The photo below shows the view looking up at the bottom of the brood nest immediately after removing a section of the soffits. An old wasp's nest and brood combs covered with bees are visible. A swarm was seen by the owner to enter about a fortnight previous to this photo, i.e. on about 8 April.

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On dismantling and taking the bees alive intio a bee vacuum the nest it was clear that the yellow comb (left) was from a small nest made the previous season. The owner had not noticed bee activity at the site, possibly due to the smallness of the colony. New comb (right) had a small amount of uncapped honey in it.

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The nest was split into three connected parts (numbered in the photo below) by two stays supporting the fascia board and soffits. Further restriction of the nest volume was caused by two rafters (labeled in the photo below).

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Residual bees, mostly returning foragers, were removed by vacuum the following day.

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David Heaf's bee index