Bearding Vs. Swarming - Thanks for the Help All!!!

ccwonka · April 17, 2009, 11:28:27 AM

PANIC attack this morning.

It's only like 70degrees outside, so not hot at all. a ball of bees about 1.5X that of a softball is on the bottom of my hive (actualy on the bottom of the screened board). It is not hot, is there a chance they are swarming? I thought swarms "flew and gathered" and balled up pretty far from the hive. So I assume this is just bearding at a weird time?

This would be a lot easier if the bees would just read the same books I'm reading!!!!!! :-\

ccwonka · April 17, 2009, 12:05:41 PM

THEY ARE SWARMING RIGHT NOW!!!

annette · April 17, 2009, 12:10:18 PM

Wow, How exciting. Can you follow them????

dpence · April 17, 2009, 12:44:06 PM

Cool, a natural thing, hopefully the lighted close where you can hive them.

ccwonka · April 17, 2009, 12:59:00 PM

Ughhhhh . . . .

OK - so . . .
GOOD NEWS - lighted on a tree right above the hive!!!!
BAD NEWS - Lighted on the trunk, actualy across the trunk where it splits into two mains.
GOOD NEWS - 3' From the roof of my barn, so I can walk right up to them!!!!!
BAD NEWS - Just out of reach, the barn roof is no good.
GOOD NEWS - set up a bait hive while I was up there with lemongrass.
MORE GOOD NEWS - I can cut this tree down, it's a "weed tree" and the saw doesn't seem to disturb the bees at all!!
BAD NEWS- The vines all over the tree cause it to twist into the side of the barn. This does disturb the bees.
?????????? - The bees actualy seem to be heading back into the parent hive?!!?!?!?!
?????????? - I set up a baited deep with drawn comb right above where they are still flying all over the place in the downed tree, I set up the baited on the roof above the beeyard, and i set one up on the ground about 5' from them, all baited.

Is there anything else I can or should do at this time? I hate to lose these bees, but right now they are not in a collectable format?

For future reference, how long (approximately) will they light in a swarm before they depart?

John Schwartz · April 17, 2009, 01:01:31 PM

Are you able to reach them by hand to brush them into a box?

ccwonka · April 17, 2009, 01:08:17 PM

I can try that, but the odds of getting more than about 50% are pretty slim, which makes me fear I will not get the queen.

I'm gonna go take some pictures right now. . . .

Scadsobees · April 17, 2009, 01:10:51 PM

Sometimes a swarm will abort their mission and head back home. If they do, you really should do a split as soon as possible, they may be regrouping and preparing another go at it.

ccwonka · April 17, 2009, 01:32:31 PM

I may have them moving into a deep on the ground of their own accord . . . I will need to check again in a few, gonna upload the pics to flickr now that I just took . . . back in a minute!!

PS - MAn am I glad I didn't have to go into work today!!! What a Rush!!!

ccwonka · April 17, 2009, 01:43:43 PM

Don't know ifI can post links to phots or not yet, but I'm gonna try;
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3569/3449844259_3266cd52f1_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3637/3449843403_cfae934c73.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3583/3449842325_60f9414bbd_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3345/3450657474_5efc99a17a_b.jpg

oldenglish · April 17, 2009, 02:01:38 PM

Nice pics, hope it all works out

annette · April 17, 2009, 02:40:23 PM

From what I have read here, the swarm will sometimes go back to the hive because they left without the queen. At this point, I hear you must do a split really soon, like right now!!!!

ccwonka · April 17, 2009, 04:02:57 PM

Well, they haven't gone back into the hive. There are hundreds and hundreds of bees in the deep I put right next to them, but there are just as many if not more still outside on the ground and climbing up the outside of the box. I cannot sweep them, as you can see they are down "on the ground" in the lowest weeds and grass and vines and the like, so there is no herding.

I put one of the bait lures in the deep, put an empty medium on top of the deep which has lots of undrawn wax foundation in it, I'd put in drawn comb, but it's already on the barn roof and that was not a fun trip up the ladder with a hive, it's a durn old barn.

Anybody got any other advice other than to leave them alone? Or should I maybe NOT leave them alone and keep bothering them? I'm at a loss of what to do to increase my odds of capturing them. :-\

Kathyp · April 17, 2009, 04:15:31 PM

the only thing i can think of off hand is to take a frame of brood from your other hive and put it in your swarm box. other than that, ??

iddee · April 17, 2009, 06:11:27 PM

Leave them alone. They will be in the box by morning.

ccwonka · April 17, 2009, 06:16:06 PM

WHOOOOOOOOOO!!! They are 95% in the box now. I assume this is a REALLY good thing. I also notice that the origional parent hive seems NO weaker than before the swarm, there is a remarkable amount of traffic, guess they do know what they're doing.

So, do I collect this box and close it up tonight when I assume all the bees will for the most part be inside? I really will need to move it across the yard, if nothing else to get it off the ground . . . the question is, when do I need to do this?

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D
GOOD DAY!!!!!!

TimLa · April 17, 2009, 08:17:44 PM

You are one lucky beek - good job!

I'm only on my second year, and I've never moved a hive, so caveat utilitor. If it was me, I'd follow the standard 'moving a hive' thing as Michael discusses here .

iddee · April 17, 2009, 09:16:56 PM

Lift it from the back and put it where you want it anytime after dark tonight.
Tonight, not tomorrow night.

ccwonka · April 17, 2009, 11:10:38 PM

:-D
My Daughter and I just moved the hive to one of the waiting stands (I was supposed to pick up some nucs this evening, it has turned into a pair of packages on Monday, so another stroke of good luck!).

We took a quick peek in after we moved it, and it was full of bees!!!!!!

Thanks to all who helped out today!!! WHAT A RUSH!!!!!!

Brian D. Bray · April 19, 2009, 12:28:41 AM

Quote from: ccwonka on April 17, 2009, 06:16:06 PM
WHOOOOOOOOOO!!! They are 95% in the box now. I assume this is a REALLY good thing. I also notice that the origional parent hive seems NO weaker than before the swarm, there is a remarkable amount of traffic, guess they do know what they're doing.

Bees have a tendency to time their swarming right after a large brood hatch. If you look at a hive immediately after the swarm leaves the hive what you'll find is loads of "downy" nurse bees all over the frames along with the other bees but little in the way of actual brood or eggs. The queen was forced to stop laying eggs at the time the new queen cells were built so any brood remaining is near hatching anyway (within 7 days usually) and no eggs. If you find eggs then the queen was allowed to lay up until the hive swarmed and maybe why swarms land so low to the ground, the queen hasn't slimmed down enough to be an agile flyer.

QuoteSo, do I collect this box and close it up tonight when I assume all the bees will for the most part be inside? I really will need to move it across the yard, if nothing else to get it off the ground . . . the question is, when do I need to do this?

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D
GOOD DAY!!!!!!

If the majority of bees go into the box during daylight the rest will at night, at that point it is safe to move it, just close the entrance during the move. New swarms post extra guards until the hive becomes somewhat established.
Seal up the entrance and move the hive at night to it's new location. Being a new swarm/hive most of the forager bees exiting will do a GPS check before venturing far afield. Those that fail to do so will return to the parent hive. If you want to nail the swarm into the new hive put a frame of brood from the old hive in the new one and add a queen excluder between the bottom board and the hive body using it as a queen includer for about a week.