In the corner of the railway sleeper yard there is a colony of honey bees in the middle of an old Ash tree. We all happily co-exist, as we move around in our yellow forklifts, which they sometimes mistake for an amazing giant sunflower. Once or twice a year, when the bee population increases inside the tree trunk, the old Queen bee gathers together about half of the hive's worker bees, (up to 25,000 bees) and leaves to find a new home (a swarm). They usually hang around in a cluster until the scout bees decide on a new home. This year we encouraged them into a new hive, which we placed on top of the pack of railway sleepers, with an incentive of some beeswax inside.
RailwaySleepers.com Says..
We always enjoy a steady flow of customers, but swarms, although equally welcome, involve some trickier customer service. All credit to Ben on his beekeeping skills.