A huge thanks to everyone who joined us for this morning’s swarm workshop — with around 30 members attending!

A special shoutout to the Education Team — especially Sam and Jane — for sharing their invaluable tips, videos, and guidance and to Lauren for the tech support.

It was interesting to see a traditional skep in action for swarm collection, videos of our members collecting swarms and hearing their strong focus on safety for both beekeepers and the public.

For us new-bees, it was incredibly helpful to make note of what we need to know before collecting a swarm, what gear to bring to the swarm collection, how to safely transport the honey bees and how to give them the best chance of survival. Many of us now feel far more confident about collecting a swarm ourselves!

We also picked up some brilliant techniques from our experienced members — from the classic ‘dustpan and brush’ method to placing a nuc on top of a privet hedge to encourage the swarm upward with a little smoke.

Several members would like to gain more hands-on experience, so don’t forget you can request to shadow and assist an experienced swarm collector. If you’re interested in receiving a collected swarm, contact the B&DBKA Swarm Coordinator(swarm.birmingham@wbka.org.uk) to be added to the list (This is for members only)