I caught my first swarm yesterday and it went like clockwork. Cut the limb and shook the bees into a hive. Beforehand, I sprayed the hive with some syrup mixed with Honey-Bee-Healthy and they all seemed to run into the hive.
This being my first swarm I am a little worried about the possibility of africanized bees and I did notice there were more bees flying around when I set them up then with my other hives (which were nucs). I opened them up again today (I know I should not have) and they seemed more agressive (more flighty and several sitting on my bee suit and gloves).
What signs would you expect to see in a newly installed swarm that would make you think africanized?
Is this behavior common in an installed swarm?
I'd give them time to settle in a little. If they are still hot after a while,pinch the queen and put in a new one.
Patook,
Aren't you having some tough weather in TX? Bees are naturally more aggressive when the weather is bad or about to change for the worse. They don't like having the roof snatched off of their house when bad weather is pending. Neither would you!
I'd say it would be typical to see more bees in the air with a package or swarm install than a Nuc. Having them land on you wouldn't make me suspect AHB either. They have no reason to assume the new hive is home and you're probably just a good place to rest and check things out. When I did my package a couple a little over a week ago I had a couple of girls trying to get into my ears(very troubling feeling) but they settled down in 20 or 30 minutes and ignored me from there on.
If they are from an AHB area and the queen was open mated, it's a pretty good bet that there's at least some AHB genetics mixed in there. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to replace the queen with one from anywhere that doesn't have AHB if you are concerned about it.
The number of bees in the air has nothing to do with how hot a hive is, it is a sign of confusion when dealing with swarms and packages. Confused bees can resort to stinging but more my accident than design. Give them time to settle down, then inspect them a couple of times a week to 10 days appart. The 2nd inspection will tell you much more about the hive's temperment. Then decide if they are too hot for you to handle and requeen or combine if necessary.
Thanks for the advice. I was in there today which is day 5. I found the queen running around looking for a cell to lay in. Small little thing with no attendants, she was just climbing alone on the piles of bees. Doesn't look like the bees were drawing comb very fast either. In fact, they might have been chewing down much of the damaged comb.
I think I just need to be patient, but I can't help it.