It's too early for a swarm

It's too early for a swarm. This is what I keep telling myself, but the bees in the hive next to the wall showed all the signs...

I know a swarm in May is worth a load of hay, but a swarm in March? Unheard of.

I quickly went and put a super filled with frames on to top of the brood box. The supers are half the size of a brood and are what we use to collect honey. Rather than having a few frames full, this hive had every frame full of bees. As the air is still cold and a breeze was coming up, I did not bother to go through the frames. Instead, I plunked the super on top, gave a few whiffs of smoke and put the hive back together again.

In a week or two's time I will go back in, shake the bees down into the brood box and put the Queen excluder on. Basically I don't want generations of bees hatching in the super because they turn the wax black.

The Aga man has come, sucked his teeth and explained the part still has not arrived. It is on order though. In the meantime, he made a temporary patch. The Aga is now slowly heating up and the house feels right again. Somehow when the Aga is no on, it feels dirty and cold, lifeless, but when it is on...

I had my usual problems with wip and have now redone the beginning as I found a better way. Helped by the fact that I discovered one of the murals from Pompeii was of the seafront of Baiae in the time I am writng about. Sort of cool.