Swarm help?

Started by robthir, May 02, 2012, 11:01:03 PM

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robthir

I ran into a natural beekeeper who was moving and got two established colonies that seem quite strong, I probably fed a bit too much at the beginning of spring, but it was cold and I wanted to be sure they were getting used to the area.  Last night, I noted a grapefruit sized ball 'o' bees hanging from the porch of one of the brood supers.  I figured they were going to swarm, so I collected them last night and they are resting away from the original place.  This morning, the boxes looked fine.  Closer to late afternoon/evening time, I now have a football sized ball 'o' bees hanging from the same spot.  It was difficult to get all of the ball because its hanging almost to the ground.  Did I not get the queen the first time?  Should I just leave it since its actually on the deep super, technically?  Should I collect in the morning  or just wait for them to leave(I have a swarm box set up with lure about 50 yards away).  I have scoured the interwebs and I see nothing about a swarm on the existing box.  Help a newbeek out.
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AllenF

Questions,  How many brood/super boxes are on the hive?   What kind of hive?   What do they look like inside of the hive the last time you opened it up?  Sounds like they have not swarmed yet, but getting ready to of you have been feeding them.   

robthir

There are three supers on the hive, only one deep.  The last time I looked in the boxes. the brood chamber looked perfect, just like the pictures, I added a queen excluder on top of the 1st super, a medium. It has been cold and rainy and I haven't been in there in maybe 1.5 weeks.  but I realized they were storing some sugar syrup, so I stopped feeding.  They are Langstrof hives.  Should I wait or collect them now from the outside of the hive?  I don't want to take the chance to lose them.
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BlueBee

Agree with Allen.  It sounds like they might be prepping to swarm but waiting for a little better weather or whatever they wait for.  On the other hand they could just be over heated and bearding outside the box.  I'm not sure about collecting a mass of bees ON the side of a hive since my guess (just a guess) is there would not be a queen in there.  I never scoop bees from the front of a hive.  When I see that happening I add a box on top and give them more ventilation.  Not saying that will work for you, but it is worth a try.  Meanwhile keep an eye in the trees in case they do swarm.  If they're in the trees, there is most likely a queen in that ball.  A ball of bees + queen makes a new colony.  Good luck.

BlueBee

The other thing you could do is an inspection and look for queen cells.  If you see them with larvae in them this time of year then expect a swarm.  You could do a managed split at that point to possibly prevent a swarm.

Kathyp

look inside but it sounds like you need more room.  1st do as BB says and look for queen cells,  then if the frames are pretty full, add space. 

why the excluder?  if the medium is for honey, you need to add unobstructed space for the queen.  if you were adding the medium for space, you need to get that excluder off. 

if you find queen cells, you can remove a few frames of older open brood along with some capped AND the queen.  put that in a new box.  leave the old hive with eggs and younger larvae and the queen cells.  in this way, you fool the hive into thinking it has swarmed and hopefully don't lose your bees.
The people the people are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it.

Abraham  Lincoln
Speech in Kansas, December 1859

robthir

Thanks everyone for your help.  I think I will start with inspection tomorrow and go from there.  The weather has been hard to keep up with for the last couple of weeks.  Tomorrow should be good though.  I took some photos, but I'm looking on the forum to see how exactly to upload them.  I've read elsewhere on here to remove my excluders also, if I lose some bees this season, I'll chalk it up to inexperience, but I'd like to keep them all. 

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robthir

I posted a photo to the facebook page.  Check it out.
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robthir

Based on the photo, they are just bearding.  So, my bees are hot.  I will work on better ventilation.  It is hotter than normal for this time of year, but does bearding go on all summer?
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buzzbee

Bearding is a method of reducing internal hive temps. Sometimes more bees can actually help maintain temps better.You could always put something on top of the inner cover to slightly prop up the outer cover,providing just a little more ventilation.