Moving a recently hived swarm

GaryMinckler · May 25, 2009, 08:09:38 PM

I got many of these bees into a hive placed under the tree they had swarmed in. I brushed some in and I think some drifted in. Can I move this hive back into the yard that they swarmed from about 25 yards away? My first attempt at catching a swarm...hope it works.

fishawk · May 25, 2009, 08:33:09 PM

Gary , I would wait till early in the mornning to move them they will be alot of scout bees coming back to the spot. That way you will get all of them .

G3farms · May 25, 2009, 09:10:26 PM

I just saw your other post over in the picture section, I guess you figured out how to get them in the brood box.

Good job on that, is this your very first swarm?? if so extra good job!!

As far as moving them I would either do it at dusk when most of the bees have come in for the night or early in the morning before they start flying. Prop a couple of sticks up in front of the hive or put some grass clipping in the entrance so they will take notice that they have been moved.

G3

GaryMinckler · May 26, 2009, 08:34:48 AM

Moved hive this morning at 6:00. With temperatures at 32 degrees it was fairly easy. Some of the swarm is still in the tree but I got about 80 % of them. Now I'm hoping they stay and that I got lucky enough to have gotten the queen. I've seen two swarms leave my beehives...very depressing to see that many bees leaving.

bassman1977 · May 26, 2009, 11:51:58 AM

QuoteNow I'm hoping they stay and that I got lucky enough to have gotten the queen.

Put a queen excluder at entrance level for a day or two. That'll keep the queen from leaving until they settle in again. I did that for the one I recently caught and it worked fine. Overlooked doing this on the swarm I caught the next day, they took off again. :fishhit:

That's a huge swarm. How many boxes did you need to hive it?

GaryMinckler · May 26, 2009, 04:14:46 PM

Good idea about the queen excluder at the bottom. That was a huge swarm. I put them in one deep and one medium super. I'm trying everything to keep 'em... branch and grass clippings at the entrance for orientation. There is still a small cluster in the tree, many thousand in the hive. If the queen wasn't in the hive would the bees be staying?

Irwin · May 26, 2009, 04:26:33 PM

I think they go to the Queen and some time's a swarm has two Queen's.

GaryMinckler · May 27, 2009, 08:09:20 AM

Caught the last little bit of bees this morning and added them to the rest hived two days earlier. Now I have most of the original swarm in a hive. The hive has one deep with just new foundation and one medium with drawn foundation that was extracted last fall. If they leave I'll post it. Thanks for the replys.