Question on swarm trap covered in bees's?

[harvey]

My Dad called me today.  I had hung one swarm trap just inside the woods over at his house.  It has been there since last sunday.  He told me that he went out and looked at it today around 3 pm.  He said the whole front of the swarm trap, it is a dadent deep, was covered in bees,  said he couldn't see any white at all.  He said they were just on the front the sides were white and he didn't see any bees on the back either, but he said the front was black with bees!!!  I have my fingers crossed,  He went back out just before dark and said there were four or five bees crawling around the entrance hole which is a 3/4 inch hole I drilled just below the handhold.  What do ya think?  I won't be able to go over there and look till this sunday.  I am sure I will have a hard time waiting.  Now my question I guess is the only entrance is the 3/4 inch hole.  I screwed a bottom and top on the dadent deep.  How do I know if there is a swarm inside and how long should I leave them there if there is?  The deep has ten frames in,  One drawn and 9 that are foundationless?   Thanks,

[Thymaridas]

Harvey,

An easy way to see if bees are there is just watch them a bit and see if they are coming and going. You could also blow a little smoke in. You should hear a noticeable increase in "buzz" as they clear the smoke.

I usually move swarms in the late evening of the day after I catch them; otherwise the homeowners get nervous. I would get them to the bee yard quickly and start feeding.

Make sure the drawn comb is in the center. If the frames are really "foundationless," as opposed to having undrawn foundation, I hope that you put a bead of bee's wax on the top bar. Otherwise they tend to cross comb. I learned that the hard way. It makes a mess and you can't swap frames to help them out with brood from strong hives.

Have fun.

Adam

[G3farms]

Ask dad to go back out tomorrow afternoon (providing it is warm and the sun shining) and see if the bees are flying in and out, maybe bringing in pollen. Watching them for five minutes or so should tell the story. With such a small hole it would take a little bit for the swarm to actually move in. I would say you are the owner of a new colony but time will tell.

G3

[D Coates]

They should have moved in by dark.  Make that hole a little bit larger in the future but if I was a bettin' man I'd say you've got yourself a swarm.  In swarm traps I leave them alone for a week to make sure the queen has gotten large, is laying again, and the swarm has committed to being a hive before moving them.  It stinks having a swarm reissue after putting effort into catching it.  In swarms that I'm catching I put a frame of brood in there while capturing them to get them committed then move them immediately thereafter.

[harvey]

Well in these swarm traps I did not have a bead of wax on the starter strips.  But I did have on completely drawn old comb in the middle.  Hopefully that helps.  Today it is raining and no sun, possible thundershowers today and through the night.  Supposed to be rain tomorrow and then clear up and be nice on Sunday so as that is the first chance I will have to check them, recon if they are still there It was a swarm.  If not no loss just no gain.  I don't have any idea where these bee's would have came from.  The swarm I got last year too?  The only thing I can think of is that there must be a bee tree back there in the wood someplace.  That would be cool.  Leave it alone and catch ferral bees from it.

[D Coates]

What did you find?  I'm curious how it turned out.

[harvey]

I found one very large swarm.  I still haven't looked inside as it is a dadent deep and I screwed the lid and bottom on.  I brought them home last night just cause?  Today they were bearding so bad I thought I would loose them, (3/4 inch hole was not enough) so i unscrewed the bottom and set them on top of a super along with a bottom board with no reducer,  Most of the bees are now inside however what I saw while they were bearding convinced me this swarm is much larger than a three pound package was!!  I hope when I unscrewed the bottom I didn't damage any comb.  I had to tip the box up on its side.  I did it easy and was not rough so I have my fingers crossed.  I get new boxes by the the end of the week along with covers so I can unscrew the top then and really see.

[D Coates]

Good for you!  I've recently gotten 2 swarms that were larger than the 5 frame nuc boxes I put them in.  They bearded something fierce until I put them in screened bottom nucs and gave them another 5 frames on top.  They are frame drawing beasts so give them all the undrawn frames they can handle.

[danno]

Good job Harvey
One thing I do is give them a few days before moving the trap.  If you can wait the queens will start laying and with brood they wont leave.  Congrats!!!
the best of swarm season is still to come