I bought some hives this spring that had screened bottom boards on them . We had a really dry summer , 4 of the hives superseeded. 1st of august I found 4 clusters of bees with a Queens on the bottom of the 4 hives all had started to draw out comb. I moved them into a deep and they started to develope into a hive. Today I found another large cluster of bees on the bottom of a screened bottom board on another hive. This is a very large cluster maybe 3 or 4 gallon of bees on a very strong hive. Why don't the bees find a tree or somthing else? Why would they be swarming at this time of year?
Crowded conditions inside the hive is usually the primary reason for swarms anytime of the year. Bees can feel crowded even when a super is inplace if a queen excluder was installed as part of the supering. Some hives just plain refuse to work beyond the barrier the exclude creates. It is better to use a slatted rack if a barrier between the brood boxes and the supers are desired.
I guess I did not realize that bee would swarm like that. I am not familiar with a slatted rack. When I bought these hives they all had queen excluders on them, some hives would not go past the excluder so I removed the exculder on the hives that wre not going into the supers. Is there any chance a swarm caught at this time of year can make through the winter?
I have not had a lot of bees on the botom of the SBB but then mine are only 3 1/2" off the ground and the grass tries to grow under there. I'm wondering if it isn't just an extension of a bee beard but on the bottom.
>>Is there any chance a swarm caught at this time of year can make through the winter?
Depends on several things: 1. Drawn comb is used exclusively, 2. Feed, feed, and feed some more, 3. It was a large swarm ( a rarity this late in the season), and 4. weather conditions remain optimal.
If 1-3 are not met then the best thing to do is combine it with another hive.