📞 A Very Buzzing Phone Call

Every beekeeper remembers their first swarm, and ours came courtesy of a call from Antony Stark of the Braintree Beekeepers.

🌳 A Meeting at Colney Green

We met Antony at a shared apiary in Colney Green, where he not only handed over the swarm but also kindly helped us settle them into their new digs.

That’s when we discovered our first little puzzle: the bees had been collected on National frames, but our hive is a Langstroth. Oops!

🔧 Beekeeping Meets 3D Printing

The solution? A little creative magic!

With the help of some clever 3D-printed frame extenders, we managed to hang the National frames safely inside the Langstroth brood box. Not quite textbook, but it worked — and the bees didn’t seem to mind one bit.

🐝 A Cloud Becomes a Home

Watching the swarm march into the hive was like witnessing a tiny, humming parade. Within minutes, they were fanning at the entrance, orienting themselves, and beginning to explore their new palace.

From a swirling cloud to a settled colony — just like that, we had our very first hive.

💛 Thanks to the Bee Team

We owe a huge thank you to Antony Stark and the Braintree Beekeepers Association for their kindness, guidance, and generosity. This little swarm marks the start of something truly sweet, and we couldn’t have asked for a better beginning.

✨ Follow the Buzz

From puzzling frames to parading bees, this first swarm is just the start of our story. Keep following along as we learn, laugh, and grow with our colony — one hum, one sting, and one honeycomb at a time.

💡 Did you know?

A swarm isn’t a sign of trouble — it’s how honey bee colonies reproduce. When a hive gets too crowded, the old queen leaves with thousands of workers to start a brand new colony. It looks dramatic, but the bees are usually at their calmest during this time because they’ve filled up on honey before leaving!