brought the swarm home & put them in a hive with 4 frames of drawn out comb. they were pretty much piled up on the bottom board so i'm letting them settle in. i''l add more frames as they spread out so i do not crush them. some of the frames are full of honey. is there anything else that i need to do? do they need to be fed? should i leave them with 1 hive body for now or add another box? there are a lot of bees so they should not have any problem defending a 2nd box. hopefully i got the queen.
Add all the frames now, or they will draw wild comb from the lid and you will have to cut it out. NEVER put bees in less than a full box of frames.
in hindsight i should have put an empty box on top of a full box of frames.
the frames are in........anything else that i need to do?
Do not place an empty box on top. They WILL create a mess! With honey they will not need to be fed. A frame of brood with eggs from another hive would be wonderful.
Good Luck, Steve
the empty 2nd box reference was an afterthought for putting the swarm in the hive. set up a hive body on the bottom board with frames, put a 2nd box on that, dump the bees in, come back in an hour & remove the 2nd box after the bees have moved onto the frames. i think that would be safer for the bees.
good luck with your swarm...keep us posted.
No empty box needed.
(http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j226/Iddee/removals/0501a7b9.jpg)
Congrats on your first swarm. I agree with asprince on the frame of brood. A swarm, most of the time, is primed and ready to build comb. Their very survival depends on it. I like to put mine on foundation and marvel at how fast they draw it out. But that might just be me. Best wishes.
i just went out to add a frame of brood to the swarm & the bees are mostly gone. there might be 2 cups of bees there, a few drones, & no queen. either i missed the queen or she did not like her new home. i think adding brood at this point would be a waste of brood.
Sorry. A frame of brood when you hived them would have insured their acceptance of their new home. Look around they may be hanging near by.
Good Luck,
Steve
I always look for the queen when catching the swarm and put here in a queen clip. When i get them home i put a queen includer over the bottom board and release the queen. In a day or two i check for eggs and if they are seen i remove the includer.
Thats just how i do it. Hope it may help you sometime.
James
Congrats on your first! Sorry it got away.
When I go to collect a swarm, I always dab the inside of the box with lemongrass oil. It never fails for me and I haven't lost a swarm yet. But that idea about a queen includer is a very good one and I've been thinking of doing this for a long time for a little extra insurance. I don't want to tempt fate and that's why gonna be using one on all my future swarm calls.
live & learn eh? it was still an awesome experience. i'll know better next time. what will happen to the few remaining bees?
If you have other hives, shake them out and remove the box. They will join another hive. If not , they will die.
Steve