When hiving a new swarm should i screen off the entrance for a day or two ? It will be a new box/frames/foundation ect
Or should i be good to just hive them and let them do as they wish ? No reducer ?
Don't block the entrance. They need to get oriented and start foraging. Place a frame of brood and another frame of honey in your new box to get them started and reduce the chances of them absconding.
I would keep the queen locked up in a queen catcher for a day or two to deter absconding and/or use a frame of brood mentioned above.
If you don't have a queen catcher or aren't good at finding the queen, you can put a queen excluder between the bottom board and brood nest for a few days to keep the queen from leaving. You can take the queen excluder after a few days, after the girls have gotten used to the new box.
Adding a frame of brood and/or honey stores, if you have other hives you can take them from, is also very helpful way to make the swarm want to stay in its new digs.
the excluder under the bottom box is the easiest. i'd keep the entrance reduced to some extent for a few days but not closed. the frame of brood and/or honey is a good way to go.
Due to the weather and the fact that i didnt have a excluder i dumped them in and just hoping for the best. its raining now. So they should hold tight this weekend.
if they stay, leave them alone for a week and then check for a queen. if you don't see signs of one put a frame of eggs in there. if it's raining and you don't think they are going to be able to forage, you'll want to think about feeding them.
I gave them a 1:1 sugar water when I hived them.
I've had mixed results using a queen excluder as an "includer". When they swarm, the queen is slimmed down for flight and can sometimes get through the excluder! A queen cage or a queen catcher with SMALL slots is a safer bet.
Went out to give them more feed. And they were for the most part inside !! :-D
I shure hope they stay. I mean they were living on a fence post for 2 dyas. This hive has got to look better ! The Buck wheat and other flowers are about to bloom all around them. Aprox 1 acer worth and there located directly across from a nurcery farm with tons of flowers ! What better could they want ?
I have never had a swarm abscond when I put a frame of brood and honey in the box. They don't leave what they think are their babies. :delivery:
Wish I could just buy one frame of each it would make things easyr.