Restless swarms

MsCarol · May 08, 2014, 12:08:51 PM

I know I am new at this and I am sure this has been addressed in the past, But in catching swarms.....from my own hives :-\ despite attempts to open the brood and/or making a split.....I was able to get them hived.....so far.....but it took twice for each swarm. The first was last Sunday and I am sure they had not been in the pear tree for too long when i found them and got them shook down. When I went to move the hive box to the yard that evening, it felt light. Sure enough the only bees in the box were the ones that stayed on the frame of brood I had put in. I looked around and found the rest back in the pear on the other side of the tree. I regathered them and so far they are staying put.
The second was on Tuesday and I saw them leave the main hive!!! What a trip!!! :-D It was out of the hive I split with the old queen in the smaller split on April 19 so it was only 17 days, thus a virgin queen I am sure. I begged them to "land low" and they did. :) In the same pear on a lower limb. Got them hived and they seemed settled for the night. Moved the box early the next morning to the yard. They were all in the box. Left the entrance partially stuffed with grass, but figure the queen was going to make her mating flights so didn't lock them in. Late yesterday a goat kid got her head caught in the fence, I went down to rescue her and turned to see a swarm cluster hanging off the fence brace. Peeked in the box and sure enough. Only ones in there were on the frame of brood. So back to "herding cats"....ummm??.. bees back into the hive box. Now I am going to spend all day fussing if they will stay put.

Should I have allowed the swarms to sit where they first landed for a longer period? These are both big balls of bees. I didn't want to risk loosing them. Or having them land too high. I don't do ladders.

BTW I checked the hive where these second girls came from and sure enough 2 capped queen cells. So hopefully I am not going to be chasing more bee balls around. :roll: I also may set up a trap hive under that pear tree. :-D

BeeMaster2 · May 08, 2014, 12:22:19 PM

Quote from: MsCarol on May 08, 2014, 12:08:51 PM
I know I am new at this and I am sure this has been addressed in the past, But in catching swarms.....from my own hives :-\ despite attempts to open the brood and/or making a split.....I was able to get them hived.....so far.....but it took twice for each swarm. The first was last Sunday and I am sure they had not been in the pear tree for too long when i found them and got them shook down. When I went to move the hive box to the yard that evening, it felt light. Sure enough the only bees in the box were the ones that stayed on the frame of brood I had put in. I looked around and found the rest back in the pear on the other side of the tree. I regathered them and so far they are staying put.
The second was on Tuesday and I saw them leave the main hive!!! What a trip!!! :-D It was out of the hive I split with the old queen in the smaller split on April 19 so it was only 17 days, thus a virgin queen I am sure. I begged them to "land low" and they did. :) In the same pear on a lower limb. Got them hived and they seemed settled for the night. Moved the box early the next morning to the yard. They were all in the box. Left the entrance partially stuffed with grass, but figure the queen was going to make her mating flights so didn't lock them in. Late yesterday a goat kid got her head caught in the fence, I went down to rescue her and turned to see a swarm cluster hanging off the fence brace. Peeked in the box and sure enough. Only ones in there were on the frame of brood. So back to "herding cats"....ummm??.. bees back into the hive box. Now I am going to spend all day fussing if they will stay put.

Should I have allowed the swarms to sit where they first landed for a longer period? These are both big balls of bees. I didn't want to risk loosing them. Or having them land too high. I don't do ladders.

BTW I checked the hive where these second girls came from and sure enough 2 capped queen cells. So hopefully I am not going to be chasing more bee balls around. :roll: I also may set up a trap hive under that pear tree. :-D

If you watch JP's video, he puts the Queen in a cage for 3 days to keep them in the box until the bees start to build. That usually locks them in.
If you let them sit in the tree and wait, there is a good chance you will get to see them take off for the hither yonder and never see them again.
You really want to hive them before they find a new site and hopefully you gave them the best suite in the territory. That is what keeps them in your hive. I am supprized they left with a frame of brood in the box.
Jim

MsCarol · May 08, 2014, 10:25:38 PM

Well, If I could have FOUND the queen in that mass, I would have contained her.

One half blind bat here. I was armed with a queen catcher but no luck finding her. Inexperience plays in here as well. I am learning as fast as i can.

I was surprised that both swarms abandoned the boxes with the brood in there as well. Well some of them stayed. Looks like both are settling in now.......I hope.

JP amazes me!! I have watched a number of his videos as much as my bandwidth allows.

BeeMaster2 · May 09, 2014, 06:40:45 AM

Quote from: MsCarol on May 08, 2014, 10:25:38 PM
Well, If I could have FOUND the queen in that mass, I would have contained her.

One half blind bat here. I was armed with a queen catcher but no luck finding her. Inexperience plays in here as well. I am learning as fast as i can.

I was surprised that both swarms abandoned the boxes with the brood in there as well. Well some of them stayed. Looks like both are settling in now.......I hope.

JP amazes me!! I have watched a number of his videos as much as my bandwidth allows.

You are not alone. Last week I went through a large swarm after I had put it into a double medium box. I looked at every frame and did not see her. I suspect she had moved to a frame that I had already looked at. I will bee checking it tonight. Hopefully they stayed in that hive.
Jim

RHBee · May 09, 2014, 07:35:35 AM

I have used a queen excluder placed under the hive body to hold the swarm in place. This doesn't work with a virgin queen. I'm going to use a screened board in the future. Contain them for three days until they comit to drawing wax then remove.

rober · May 09, 2014, 09:36:40 AM

I've started blocking the entrance for a couple days with screen. I've put lemon grass oil, a frame of brood, a frame of honey, & still the next morning they were gone. caging the queen works good too. the only thing with putting a queen excluder under the hive is sometimes you're catching secondary swarms. those usually have virgin queens & they can slip thru an excluder.

capt44 · May 09, 2014, 09:40:28 AM

When I catch a swarm in one of my bee yards I move them to another bee yard.
When I try to hive them in the same bee yard they have a tendency to leave.
I've tried putting screen on the entrance and would leave it for around 2 or 3 days.
Remove the screen and those gals were gone in an hour.
But when I moved the hive to another bee yard they stayed.

MsCarol · May 09, 2014, 01:40:14 PM

You guys are great!!!

I don't have another yard set up as of now. Guess I can move that up on my priority list. As I have cattle, a fence around it is imperative!! :-D I have another location on the farm that I thought would work well, but just hadn't done anything with it yet. I have enjoyed having the bees within sight as well as where I pass by everyday.

Wax building!! Maybe I am in luck on swarm two. When I picked up the old sweatshirt covered bucket with the last few stragglers in it the next morning, there were bits of wax stuck all over the sweatshirt!! Hoping the bulk of the bees were doing same inside the hive. Pretty positive this is a virgin queen as the original old lady is very busy laying eggs in the smaller split off hive. My failed attempt to curtail the swarming. This has to be a first hatched queen as there are two more KNOWN capped queen cells (or they were capped) in the larger hive the day they swarmed (Tuesday).

Guess next go round - I am sure there will be one - it will be screening the entrance for a few days. Making sure they have food inside to get themselves buzz-y building. Although we have rain showers forecast for on and off the next week, it is warm and the bees are still out ... or were earlier. Once it clears off again in a few days to a week, I will go in and see if I can figure out if all is going well. Either way I am keeping eagle eyes on the first big hive to swarm as I have this "little feeling" it might be planning an afterswarm. The bees just seem "restless". Fixed up another box yesterday. Plan to bait it (I love the lemongrass oil myself) and will set it under that favorite pear tree on blocks. (It is my only 10 frame deep and too bulky to try to get in the young tree).