Hello, last sunday I had just finished mowing my orchard. I have 25 fruit trees. When my father came over. He wanted to look at the trees so we went down and walked from tree to tree. We were standing next to my plum tree when he asked me what that was over my head. I looked up and there was a swarm of honey bee's. I have not seen a honey be around my place in years! i have always wanted a hive but never gotten around to it. I live on 40 acreas in the middle of farm country with nothing but woods and crops around me. I was excited about seeing the bees so I called a beekeeper friend who told me to put them in a cardboard box. I got a box about 18 inches square and went back to the tree. The bees acted like I wasn't even there. i carefully cut the branch they were on and set it in the box. I closed the lid and duct taped it shut then cut a little door in the bottom about an inch by two. On tuesday a guy at work brought me an old little hive with nine frames in it that still had a little old honey here and there. I set the cardboard box on top of the open hive with the door facing down into the hive. This morning I checked and the bees were still all going in and out of the box. I cut an x in the top of the box and carefully opened it up. The bees had made three wax cones about nine inches oval already in the box and were all swarmed there. I used a one by one stick and carefully moved the bee's out of the box and onto the top of the open hive. The bees seemed to melt down in between the frames. I then pulled the wax cone out of the box and put the lid on the hive. An hour later all the bees were in and around the hive and none were on the cardboard of the box. I brought the wax in the house to look at cause it was cool. I have always wanted bee's but know nothing about them. Now I have a bunch of bees in a hive. Now what do I do?
Well, you clearly have have some latent beekeeping skills, I'd say.
Now, you let the bees do their work. That is the easy part. And, maybe you read a beekeeping book.
If you only have nine frames in what is probably ten frame box, you should probably get another frame. The bees will draw some messy comb if the box is not filled with the correct number of frames. And, when you say a "little" hive box, what do you mean? If you have a very small hive and a lot of bees, you may need to get them another box shortly.
Next time, you may want to put the combs they built in the hive. If you take a close look at them, you may see the queen was already laying eggs in them.
Sounds like you are off to a good start. The bees know what to do.
Congrats..your now a Bee haver...read three or four posts here,,and you become a Beekeeper..lol..
Sit back..look online for an extra box or two with frames and find a Bee meeting..they will do the rest..
Congratulations on your first hive and the free bees!
Try to find a local beekeeping club in your area.
Local beeks are a great resource for you and this forum is another.
You say you talked to a beek friend so maybe he can help you out a little more.
You will need more equipment, supers and frames etc.
The combs that they already built on the top of the carboard box can be cut out and tied into a new frame so that comb won't be lost.
How old is that old comb you had in the box and do you know where it came from?
I would worry about contamination, but thats me.
Do alot of reading here, there is alot of information in older threads here and there is a search function for any question you have.
Ask questions here and someone will answer, you will gain confidence with knowledge.