I've been keen to populate both my 'weird' hives.
Because of their structure it's not easy, nor cheap, to buy bees for them, so I decided I would rely on swarms to fill them.
It does mean I will probably have older queens in them and the conventional wisdom is that you should replace the queen from a swarm as soon as you can.
This is mostly driven by the issue of honey production.
You both know my view on this.
I'm quite happy having elderly queens provided the colony is healthy and has adequate food supplies.
They will get the same varroa treatments and food supplements when they need them as do my other colonies.
In time the bees will replace the queen themselves without having me to intervene.
The first swarm I collected for the Top Bar Hive absconded two days later so the swarm in the video is the second attempt.
Click the button to see the video about the Top Bar Hive.
There will be a separate video about the Warre Hive.
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