Caught a swarm but all gone now

montauk170 · June 07, 2010, 02:28:06 AM

Friday night I got a call from a guy saying there's a swarm in his yard about 15 ft high. Dad and I went over at night time to capture it. It wasn't just cutting one branch to shake the swarm as they were on many branches that intersect at one point and that's where they balled up. So we used a bee vac I made from robo's design and used that effectively. Got all the bees, probably around 2-3 pounds. Removed the cover of the bee vac and all the bees were alive and well in a medium. The medium had foundationless frames with guides
and two frames with a few new drawn combs from a cutout I did rubberband to the frames. Anyways, got home late so I just left the bees in the medium with screen top but covered some allowing ventilation. Saturday morning I checked them out through the screen, still all good. I position the medium, put on an inner cover and telescoping top. Opened up
the entrance to a small enough opening for about two bees to come out like the entrance reducers. Bees flew out and I went off. I didn't check on them until Sunday afternoon.
ALL GONE!!!! The bees are all gone!

Maybe I didn't get the queen? Maybe the queen didn't like the new home?

I don't have any brood combs or old drawn combs.
How can I better my chances at keeping my next swarm capture?

I did not feed them. And if I was to feed them, do I not let them out for a few days?

fish_stix · June 07, 2010, 12:44:07 PM

Order some swarm lures from the bee suppliers. I've been leaving one in for a week or so with my caught swarms and they don't leave. Also feed them! Swarms are wax building machines but they're going to need food to sustain them. A frame of foundation in the middle will help get them started, then you can use foundationless, or more foundation, whichever you choose. When I use all wax foundation frames they typically build it out within 1-2 weeks and the queen will be laying after only one day. I've recently tried foundationless with a guide bar and mine have taken considerably longer to build it and some frames never get completely filled out. Others on this forum have had better experiences with foundationless. Then, just accept the fact that some swarms are going to leave, no matter how well you set them up!

montauk170 · June 07, 2010, 01:25:27 PM

Thanks, will try some more tricks you mentioned next time I get a chance at a swarm.

riverrat · June 07, 2010, 05:43:44 PM

unfortunately bees don't read the same books we do. There may have been something in the hive they didint like. to much room not enough room we will never know why the left. All you can do is do the things that helps keep them home. sounds like you did that only thing different I would have done is put on a feeder. I have also found that when I hive a swarm I have had better luck hiving them in a 5 frame nuc first then ad another 5 frame nuc box over the hived swarm. once they have established themselves then i will move to 10 frame deeps. this works best for me. I think one of the most valuable and overlooked tools a beekeep can have is several 5 frame nucs laying around ready to use. I got 30 of them and at times i need more.

montauk170 · June 07, 2010, 06:56:16 PM

I guess my next question would be... would the bees fly away in a days time if there was no queen?
I would think the queenless bees would stick around for a couple of days before taking off.
So maybe I did get the queen and she lead all of the bees to find a new home.

montauk170 · June 07, 2010, 06:58:00 PM

Guess I'll have to look into the nuc solution, and build a bee vac to fit that instead of say a deep or medium.

Another question, can I hold the bees hostage for a few days but feed them?
How long is ok to lock them inside their new home?

hardwood · June 07, 2010, 07:21:57 PM

I've been known to lock them in (mostly for starting grafted cells) but I would think two days max. I did forget about a starter nuc for ten days once and even though nosema took over they were able to recover (thankfully). I used queen "includers" for swarms as well but never more than 2 days.

Scott

riverrat · June 07, 2010, 08:34:27 PM

Quote from: montauk170 on June 07, 2010, 06:56:16 PM
I guess my next question would be... would the bees fly away in a days time if there was no queen?
I would think the queenless bees would stick around for a couple of days before taking off.
So maybe I did get the queen and she lead all of the bees to find a new home.

A swarm will not hang around long once they issued and a queen didn't follow. They will go back to the hive and reissue the next day until a queen does leave with them. I did pick up one queenless swarm this year I found a queen laying dead below the swarm. As for the queen leading them to a new home. That don't happen the scout bees are the one that find and lead the bees to a new home. Actually a queen does not lead the hive at all. her only job is to lays eggs. It is the workers who control and lead the hive.