A swarm in a tree

octagon · August 27, 2008, 04:38:19 PM

I had a hive swarm a couple hours ago and they are in a tree about 30 foot above the hive.
the hive was full of bees and both brood chambers and one med super is full of honey and brood.
what would make the decide to swarm this late in the yr? over crowding? maybe.
this was a hive that over wintered but was weak in the spring, I combined it with another weak hive in July and they really took off filling the chambers with brood and honey.
i'm not going to climb up and get them as I don't want any more hives than i have now and i'd probably break my neck anyway at my age.

JP · August 27, 2008, 06:47:22 PM

This late I would guess they were honeybound, hvae you checked in the hive itself, sometimes they will abscond because of intruders like fireants.

...JP

octagon · August 27, 2008, 07:19:04 PM

yes have cked for ants, this hive don't even have the usual black ants sneaking around, one med super is almost full and they are moving around on the second, which has black plastic frames & foundation, they don't seem to take to it like the white foundation with wood frames.

Brian D. Bray · August 28, 2008, 01:14:42 AM

Quote from: octagon on August 27, 2008, 07:19:04 PM
yes have cked for ants, this hive don't even have the usual black ants sneaking around, one med super is almost full and they are moving around on the second, which has black plastic frames & foundation, they don't seem to take to it like the white foundation with wood frames.

Is there an excluder involved? Hives will often swarm rather than work through an excluder or work plastic foundation. To get them to work plastic foundation it is important to let it air out for a prolonged period of time, add (paint on) another coat of wax, and sometimes even spraying the plastic foundation with syrup is required.

I got so tired of trying to finese bees onto foundation I decided to go without it. I now use foundationless frames with narrow wood strips for a building guide. The bees seem to find this much more natural and will build out a foundationless frame faster than frames with foundation, especially plastic foundation.

octagon · August 28, 2008, 04:27:16 AM

No excluder. the frames are a few yrs old but were still in the shipping box in a plastic tote and i didn' paint any more wax on them although i had it in mind to do it. they still had that new dry look and feel.. I had a feeling that may be what upset them because the super below had all 10 frames about full and the bees were just walking around on these frames, but not starting any comb.

Brian D. Bray · August 28, 2008, 09:48:49 PM

Quote from: octagon on August 28, 2008, 04:27:16 AM
No excluder. the frames are a few yrs old but were still in the shipping box in a plastic tote and i didn' paint any more wax on them although i had it in mind to do it. they still had that new dry look and feel.. I had a feeling that may be what upset them because the super below had all 10 frames about full and the bees were just walking around on these frames, but not starting any comb.

Not to late to pull the frames and paint on a coat of wax, believe me it will make a big difference on whether or not the bees start working those frames or not.

octagon · August 28, 2008, 10:59:25 PM

Quote from: Brian D. Bray on August 28, 2008, 09:48:49 PM
Quote from: octagon on August 28, 2008, 04:27:16 AM
No excluder. the frames are a few yrs old but were still in the shipping box in a plastic tote and i didn' paint any more wax on them although i had it in mind to do it. they still had that new dry look and feel.. I had a feeling that may be what upset them because the super below had all 10 frames about full and the bees were just walking around on these frames, but not starting any comb.

Not to late to pull the frames and paint on a coat of wax, believe me it will make a big difference on whether or not the bees start working those frames or not.

thanks, i thought the same thing and painted them soon after i read your post this AM.