Tips on hiving wild colonies?

kedgel · June 24, 2009, 11:08:41 AM

I have had no luck hiving wild colonies. Both times I tried it, they mostly disappeared leaving a few sad-looking bees behind. How do I keep them at home?

Kathyp · June 24, 2009, 11:11:35 AM

where did you get them and how did you hive them? did you get any of the brood from the wild hive?. did you get the queen?

Joelel · June 24, 2009, 03:06:11 PM

Quote from: kedgel on June 24, 2009, 11:08:41 AM
I have had no luck hiving wild colonies. Both times I tried it, they mostly disappeared leaving a few sad-looking bees behind. How do I keep them at home?

If you catch a swarm with the queen they will stay,if you take bees with a queen from a hive they might stay or might go back to old hive. Best to take some brood and honey and bread.

sparks · June 24, 2009, 03:18:14 PM

This brings up the question of distance. If you relocate a well established wild colony well within the two mile rule, won't they just try to go back to their old location and find nothing much there and be totaly lost? Just a thought.

Chuck

jdpro5010 · June 24, 2009, 03:56:38 PM

They will go back unless you do something to cause them to reorient to their new surroundings.

Kathyp · June 24, 2009, 04:02:44 PM

this would be the time to use an excluder as an includer. if you catch a swarm close to where you intend to set up the hive, place the excluder between the bottom board and the hive body. with luck, this well keep the queen in until the hive is settled.

kedgel · June 24, 2009, 06:27:30 PM

Thanks for all the tips. I had postulated that the key was keeping the queen at home and that keeping some brood was the key to that. My first attempt I didn't put any of the old comb into the new hive because I didn't want them to build out the new comb at random or attach it to the foundation on the new frames. When I realized that the queen had swarmed off with most of the bees, I figured out a way mount some of the old comb into a frame, but it was too late and they didn't produce a new queen themselves. My second try I put all of the old comb into a super above the brood box with an excluder. I think the problem that time was that it was a fresh swarm that didn't have much brood yet. What little comb there was was brand new-- snow white, really fragile and barely contained anything, so they didn't have much reason to stay put. The kiss of death was a killer thunder storm blew the hive over before they could glue it up. I had like 10 bees left after the storm. I put the hive perpendicular to my other hive with the landing boards touching and they joined it. I think the idea of using the excluder as an includer is a good one. A new box of bees won't disappear because the queen is caged for a couple days before they free her. By then they have settled in and started to draw out some comb. Any tips on putting brood comb, etc. from the old hive in the new one? Am I on the right track to try to mount it in frames? My mounting job didn't work as a permanent solution, as it didn't lay in quite right. One end or the other stuck out too far and hung up on adjacent frames when I tried to pull them out. The second time around I just leaned it up on the sides planning on taking it out once they established some brood on the frames. Of course, I never got the chance to see if that was a good idea.

iddee · June 24, 2009, 07:34:55 PM

There's a little trick that will give all kinds of ideas. It's called using the search function. Most questions have been asked and answered, and hashed over at least a dozen times. If you don't find it under search, then ask, and we will direct you to a few and answer it again also.