Keeping Swarm from leaving?

mgmoore7 · June 21, 2009, 06:28:10 AM

I got a swarm last week.
http://blog.moorehoneybees.com/?p=17

I went to the yard today and they were gone. No wax built.

-I picked up the swarm about 15 miles from where I moved them too.
-I pu them in a Nuc.
-I kept them closed up for about 24 hours.
-I did not feed them.
-I put a few drops of lemon-grass oil in the hive before getting the swarm.

What could or should I have done to get this swarm to stay?

BjornBee · June 21, 2009, 08:20:43 AM

I don't see the need for lemongrass oil in catching a swarm. All your doing is interfering with the queen's pheromone's. She either is in the box or not.

Some have good success with adding a frame of brood.

Bees may not stay if they do not like the new home for a host of reasons. They include being in the full sun, having an upper entrance or any light from above, and noise issues.

As for your individual items....
_They could of left from the move alone
_Nuc box is the wrong size they prefer (unless you have AHB)
_Closing them up no doubt ticked them off
_Feed or at least a honey frame would of been nice
_No need for the lemongrass oil

Better luck next time.

G3farms · June 21, 2009, 10:22:13 AM

My bet would have been closing them up, depending on how you did that. In the hot summer temps if you close the hive up they will need lots of ventilation. When moving hives in the summer I built some screened tops that replace the regular top completely and then put 1/8" hardware cloth in the front entrance. They might of thought it was always this hot in there new home and left for some cooler digs. Also a strong swarm will want to get to work right away drawing comb and foraging. You did not say how long they had been there but they could of been hungry and needing to forage for nector or even water.

Also vote for the no lemon grass oil, the queen will put out her own scent. You CAUGHT them and they marched in, more than likely you got the queen. Use the oil for bait hives to catch a swarm.

bees will be bees and do as they please.

Sorry to hear you lost the swarm, better luck next time

G3

Kathyp · June 21, 2009, 11:00:34 AM

feeding is always a good call. a swarm is hungry. besides a home, they want food. i also agree about the lemongrass oil...to a point. i usually have a spray bottle of sugar water with me and it has a little lemongrass oil in it. i usually give the comb in my box a lite spray. it seems to help them settle in the box a little faster....because swarms are hungry!

it's the syrup they are after, not the lemongrass scent.

it's a learning experience. the next one will be yours!

JP · June 21, 2009, 11:42:59 AM

Main thing, feed them, as they leave the hive they came from with the skin off their backs, that's it.

About the lemongrass oil, I use it. It works particularly well on swarms with virgins where her scent is not nearly as strong as a queens. I've seen entire swarms with virgins move in, in a heart beat because of lemongrass oil.

I've experimented with lemongrass oil enough to know that its an important tool when catching swarms and doing cut outs.

I'm not saying its absolutely necessary to catch or keep a swarm with lemongrass, because as stated, once they orient, well, they've oriented, but this coonass ain't leaving home without it!

Also, check this out: http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,22611.0.html

...JP

G3farms · June 21, 2009, 01:36:01 PM

JP, not doughting you in the least since you are more experienced than me. My take on this is a virgin queen would go to the oil because as you said she might not be fully developed yet, well at least not in her queen duties, do you know what I am trying to say??? The oil may be so much more overpowering that the queen would think there is a stronger queen in her presence and would think like a worker.

Most swarms would have the old queen (except a secondary swarm) and she would be more set in her ways. If she was to smell the stong oil she might think she is in a hive that already has a queen and decide to leave before a war broke out.

Just thinking out loud, I always seem to have a different twist on things.

No disrespect intended, I will always be learning.

G3

JP · June 21, 2009, 04:05:52 PM

G, I think you may be confusing nasonov with queen pheromone. My experience has been that bees will ignore a virgin and go to lemongrass because she doesn't have the queen appeal that mated queens have and are more inclined to ignore her and orient to a catch box with nasonov.

I think of virgins as tag alongs, and where the bees go she follows.

...JP