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First my apologies, for some reason the add a photo is not working. Probably due to me!
This morning I checked the hive. 6 of the 10 frames in the super are filled with honey with a seventh frame started. I tried to check the brood box for signs of a new queen but it was so busy I could not lift a frame out. There were signs of a swarm starting but they did a practice run yesterday so I thought it was the same thing. I have never dealt with a swarm before!
A couple of hours later my son in law called me out. The bees had swarmed and were hanging in a cone shape in the holly tree. This was too good to be true! So many people told me that bees always swarm to inaccessible places, never play ball! Mine are within easy reach! I assembled all I needed and suited up. I asked him indoors to suit up too as knew I could not do this alone.
I put some frames from the new hive brood box into the nuc box ready to take the swarm. Then him indoors held the branch while I cut it and we tried to get the bees in the box. Quite a few went in but the majority headed back up to the tree so I knew I had not caught the queen. Second attempt most of the bees went in the box. The queen was in there! I have kept an eye on things and a few bees are buzzing about but most are in the box. They are already working on the foundation wax and I guess the queen is already laying eggs. They seem happy. Once the sun lessens I will check for any stragglers then close the box. My plan is that as it becomes dusk I will move the frames into the brood box of the new hive. Then I will seal the door for the night. In the morning I hope it will be business as usual with two hives!
The original hive is happy, with normal behavior of bees gathering pollen. I would guess that they had already raised a new queen which is why they swarmed.
I cannot believe it was so easy but am grateful it was as this is my first time dealing with a swarm.
As with most things it was nothing like I had read being in fact much easier.
I love bee keeping!