What % of hived swarms abscond?

dp · May 11, 2011, 03:10:48 AM

My buddy and I have hived 4 swarms this year. Today, I hived a small 2# swarm, and by this evening it absconded. I didn't put a queen excluder on, but in hind sight.....

I hived this swarm in a single deep, with two frames of drawn comb, some honey comb from a cut out, and sugar water. Also wiped a little lemon grass oil inside. Not sure if I got the queen, but don't know why I wouldn't have. The collection went very smooth.

So, what did I do wrong? What % of hived swarms abscond?

Jim134 · May 11, 2011, 07:03:49 AM

Welcome to beekeeping in the real world if you put on a queen excluder (cage) take it off in 36 or 48 hr. she may bee a virgin

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

indypartridge · May 11, 2011, 07:51:26 AM

Quote from: dp on May 11, 2011, 03:10:48 AM
Today, I hived a small 2# swarm, and by this evening it absconded. I didn't put a queen excluder on, but in hind sight.....

Putting an excluder on may not have accomplished anything. Before swarming, queens stop laying and slim down in order to fly. The slimmed-down queens often have no problem getting thru an excluder.

Michael Bush · May 11, 2011, 09:03:32 AM

It's best to get them to want to go in and move in on their own. I just bait them with lemongrass oil and QMP (usually from "queen juice" but Bee Boost from Mann Lake will work). They almost always move in and they almost always stay if they do.

If you shake them in you often don't get the queen or they just haven't made up their mind to move in, so they go back to the limb.

Finski · May 11, 2011, 02:20:47 PM

.
I have lost couple of swarms when they have left from hive next morning.

reason was that I put the hive in hot place and I started feeding at once.
Bees felt there uncomfortable and crowded and decided to find a better place.

So I have read advices:

- don't feed a swarm at once because it has 3 days food with it.

- don't change the queen, because there is no hurry to do that.

- keep a swarm hive in shadow some days

xxxx And it is not a big job to put excluder between bottomn and the box.

.

D Semple · May 11, 2011, 03:19:37 PM

I've lost one 1 out of 7 so far this year.

I thinks the one I lost was because I should have given them more room.

I'll be smarter next time, although letting them get away isn't all that bad, somebody will be paying me to remove them! :evil:

Don

schawee · May 11, 2011, 03:41:48 PM

dp,i allways cage the queen and keep her caged 2to3 days.i do feed them when i get to my rehab yard with them.12 swarms this year 0 absconded. ...schawee

Finski · May 11, 2011, 05:17:53 PM

.
That percent...during my 48 years I remember 4 times.

bud1 · May 11, 2011, 07:45:10 PM

I clip the queen if i can tell that she is mated. i still have to put her back some times

danno · May 12, 2011, 09:13:31 AM

I have very high % stay if I move them from the catch site even if its just for a few days. Everyone that has left has happened when I didn't have time to move them.

Brian D. Bray · May 12, 2011, 07:19:27 PM

Swarms that have pre-selected a home site will almost always abscond.
Swarms that have been in the same place for several days haven't decided on a new home site.
Swarms will sometimes leave even after setting up house keeping, ie drawing foundation and depositing nectar and pollen.
Swarms will choose their new home whatever people do.

Ways to improve the odds of retaining a swarm include:
Use used equipment that have that lived in look and feeling.
Supply at least 2 frames of drawn comb, preferrably brood comb.
Use of lemon grass oil, or similar, to impart that mother's love.
Let the bees enter the hive of their own volition.
Remove hive from it's hiving location as soon as 90%+ of bees have entered hive, don't worry about stragglers they'll go home.
Include a partial frame of capped honey with or without brood.

bailey · May 12, 2011, 09:11:55 PM

so far this year i have had 2 abscond but it was my fault, i left them in the box where i caught them instead of moving the box a few miles.

dont know why this helps but it seems to work for me.

Bailey

jaseemtp · May 12, 2011, 09:12:17 PM

I was just wondering the same thing. So far I have lost 2 of 10 swarms this year. What is most upsetting is the most recent was a very large swarm. :'( I moved them very far from where I captured them, I did feed them and they both seemed pretty darn happy but poof they are gone.

hiram.ga.bee.man · May 12, 2011, 11:42:15 PM

I like to treat a swarm like a package of bees. When installing bees in a new hive install an entrance moving screen and keep the bees caged in the hive for at least twenty four hours. Works every time.

jaseemtp · May 13, 2011, 03:15:15 AM

I did that with the all the swarms I have captured. I lock them up for 24 hours, I do give them some syrup though. Im still impressed that I have kept as many as I have.

joebrown · May 13, 2011, 03:34:44 AM

Putting an excluder on may not have accomplished anything. Before swarming, queens stop laying and slim down in order to fly. The slimmed-down queens often have no problem getting thru an excluder.
[/quote]

This is very true! Last year I had a queen that I obviously did not get into the hive body and she started laying in the supers. I moved her down. A few weeks later I go back in and I check the hive again. Now I have a queen laying in the supers and a queen laying in the hive body. There were a tons of dead bees in the queen exlcuder area. I would have never believed you could have two colonies in the same box (hive body and two supers) but I was definitely proven wrong. I split them once I made this discovery!