Swarm Emergency

[Hannah-Davida]

Problem: My girls swarmed over to a waiting super full of drawn comb.  (Courtesy of my Bee Sensei) This super has no cover...yet. (Hubby has graciously said he'd smack something together for me...and off he goes....)
As I write this it is about 4 pm. Pacific time. Should I be trying to get that Honey super on top of the colony asap or cover the thing and wait until....later...tomorrow, when they all settle down? They are terribly busy by the honey super, but the activity at the main body has mellowed somewhat.
And then there is the queen. We're thinking we should try to shake her back down into the main body, hopefully salvaging our haoney frames by also installing an excluder.
The major problem is that we are completely out of frames of any sort. Strike that I have one empty frame.
We're trying to reach the Sensei for emergency provision of frames but have not been able to contact him yet.
Any ideas?
Waiting breathlessly....

[Kathyp]

the honey super is separate from the super into which they swarmed?

[Hannah-Davida]

Nope. I have a single two Super hive body. The Honey Super was brought up the night before last. and sits 30 yards away from the main hive body. Did I mention we've had thunder and rain for the last couple of daze? Course not...it's a very  warm 30 something celsius right now. Clear skies in the forcast.

[Kathyp]

ok...they swarmed into the honey super that you planned on adding to your two box hive?

you can't shake her back in because the hive she came out of had probably already requeened or close to it.  if you do a careful check of that hive, you should find queen cells. 

you now own 2 hives  :-)

if it were me, i'd use the honey super as a nuc until you can get more boxes.  then you can shake the bees into the new boxes and use an excluder to hatch out the brood above....

in the mean time, you'll need another honey super for your big hive along with your new brood box(s).

my 1/2 cents worth  :-)

[Hannah-Davida]

 :-D
So it's not the end of the world. Whew.
As we speak Derek is putting something together that resemble a bottom board and cover that will make to til we can get hold of the Bee Sensei and pick up more supplies. Thank heavens for scrap heaps and good friends! And thank you for your speedy response! Pretty impressive.
Any other ideas or suggestions anybody?

[Kathyp]

just happened to have this running in the background while i was doing other stuff.  you'll probably get other advice that will help you carry through :-)

not nearly the end of the world  :-)

[Hannah-Davida]

Hi Kathy P, Derek here. I just wanted to thank you for the quick (and positive !) reply to Hannah's questions and to ask a couple more. First off, the honey super which the sqatters moved into has/had immaculate frames used only for honey. I imagine that it is too late now to keep them that way? There are nine frames in the honey super, could I try taking some out? Should I definitely take some out? If so, when would be a good time? There is still a cyclone of bees around their new home and they are quite loud so I wish to give them some space. Also the new hive must be moved as it is beside the back door. I have just made a bottom and top as well as an inside cover. Is it a good idea to wait till they come in for the night, cover 'em over, put them on the bottom, and hie them on out to the apiary area? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated, especially if it keeps me from getting lumpy.

[randydrivesabus]

i aint kathy but i would put the bottom and top on when its light out and some of them are busy foraging. shouldnt take but a minute to do.

[Kathyp]

i'd follow randys advice except that you have to move them.  in this case, i think i'd wait until they are all settled and then close them up and move them.  the other advice that i have heard here, and makes sense, is to put a queen excluder between the bottom of the hive and the bottom board.  that way the queen will stay put in case the hive thinks it  has not finished it's travels.  also, feeding them will help them want to stay. if you don't have an excluder, at least an entrance reducer.

as for the comb, there is not much you can do about that i don't think.  i'd leave all the frames in since you won't want to disturb them any more than you have to.  if you feed, they'll start drawing it out and the queen will start laying (hopefully) right away.  it shouldn't be a big deal.  they won't mess it up that much...unless you were going to do cut comb?

i'm sure you'll get more ideas from others.  shouldn't be to much different than any other swarm.

[Hannah-Davida]

Hi RDAB. We are new at this and so I'm not familiar with 'normal' bee behaviour. I would like to do this while light enough to see but am not sure what the bees think. Both hives have a steady stream of bees going in and out (through the open top on the new one) but our entire yard and garden is a howling blizzard of bees that just seem to be aimlessly flitting about. They are thicker around the two hives but are all over the place. Maybe put them on the bottom, cover them over and leave them for a day to acclimatize? Thanks   I'm a slow typer and got another reply while I was pecking away, so this is a continuation and reply to KathyP too. Yes we have an excluder which we will use (for how long?)' no, no cut comb, but the frames were sure nice. There was a quantity of honey that had not been spun out completely, so they might just be happy. I'm certainly happy that they didn't fly off elsewhere, we've only had the hive for about six weeks or so

[Kathyp]

are you sure it was a swarm?  if there was honey in the comb, they may just be robbing it clean.  check it after dark.  if all the bees are gone, they were just cleaning up.

[Hannah-Davida]

 I'm pretty sure they swarmed. We've never seen them flying around like they were doing today. Plus Hannah saw a big group of them clinging to the outside of the original hive and says that their buzzing was very loud. I didn't hear them myself so didn't catch the pitch of the buzzing. The bees are settling down now but are still flying about the yard. I just came in from putting the top cover on the single super and many are still going in and out but don't seem to be heading to the original hive. Also while watching the new nest today I noticed that bees were landing on the top of the frames, nibbling for a couple of seconds on the little bit of burr comb on top of the frames and then crawling into the hive. I also noted a few who climbed out, had a nibble and went back down. These couldn't be capping egged cells with this stuff, could they? Already? Lastly, the combs were spun and I don't think that there would be enough honey left in the frames to justify thousands of bees to go pilfering. But then, if I knew anything I wouldn't have to ask you folks. Thanks again

[BEE C]

Hey let us know how that goes.  I have a swarm cell with some shaken bees that were just robbed out by a stronger hive.  Were on day two of sun after a week or more rain here.  bees are relearning where the blossoms are and exploring everything!  My guess is that bees were robbing your super, but hopefully theres some eggs in there soon.  The bees are in prime robbing conditions here now, with the late summer flow just starting after all the rain.  I extracted nine frames of honey and it was a chore to get the bees to stay out of the box i use to collect the honey frames in.  good luck.  steve.

[Hannah-Davida]

KathyP called it right. The bees were busy robbing what is to be theirs anyway. Last night everyone went home leaving a nice empty super. Today I scooped it into the kitchen to tidy up the burr comb (can't get the inner cover on otherwise)  & 5 little stragglers were inside. They made a bee-line out the kitchen door when liberated from the super, bless their hearts.
I'll have that task finished off shortly and we'll pop it, and the excluder on top of the hive body when Derek gets home....about the hottest part of the afternoon on my mountain.
What an interesting afternoon that was! All the feasting beasties were so busy that didn't seem to notice me sticking my nose into their treasure trove. It was incredibly fascinating. Chances are I'll never forget that crazy sky-dance of theirs, or the particular humming that eminated from the hive and later the vacant super or how it felt to be surrounded by them and to be completely at ease despite the apparent chaos. Other than stressing about the experience being a swarm or robbing, it was a blast!
Thanks again to all who helped and encouraged. Know you are appreciated.
Hannah-Davida

[Kathyp]

:-)  glad it all worked out.  on the + side, you have an emergency bottom board and top.  now for a few extra supers and frames.  the next swarm might be for real!