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Nucleus / Artificial swarm creation

We decided to go ahead and try to split one of our colonies and place a brood nucleus in our backyard.
 
 Within 4 days, the bees had begun raising queen cells throughout the hive. Then I waited for two weeks and then I made an inspection. I was pleased to discover that the queen had hatched, and the bees had begun "dismantling" all the queen cells.Within 10 days, the queen was laying eggs. She is very busy and the bees really thrived in our backyard. They drew out come at a very rapid pace, and the queen was eager to lay eggs in all available cells. Next year, the queen (we named her Babsi) should be running a very strong and successful hive. I was sad to have to move them back to the bee stand, but I needed to make room for our newest project: an artificial swarm. 

An artificial swarm is a method of hive splitting that is quite common after the last honey harvest. (By the way, our last harvest of the season yielded 17 kg / 35 pounds)The method is rather straightforward. The beekeeper takes bees from 1 or more colonies and places them in a box or other container along with a new queen that has been previously bred and caged. The bees (about 2 kg / 5 pounds) are then placed in a dark and cool room, in my case, in my basement. There they stay for 2-3 days. In this time, the bees become accustomed to the scent of their new queen, and they also reactivate their wax glands. Both of these things are equally important. After the 2-3 days of isolation, the bees are then placed in their new home and are given some syrup. The bees begin to draw out comb immediately, and within a few days the queen will have begun laying eggs. The behavior is quite similar to a natural swarm and within a month, the bees are well on their way to developing a strong colony. I hope to post some photos and/or videos when we place the swarm in its hive.

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