Combining a weak swarm to a colony

Started by czman11, June 20, 2012, 12:42:11 PM

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czman11

Hello everyone

About 2 weeks ago I was contacted by local National Guard training center to remove a swarm from a heavy loader that got attached to its arm. Upon giving them my info and estimate they submitted request for funds and week later they contacted me again stating that the funds have been finally approved and I can do the removal. Well, during this time the swarm lost its queen and when I got there, there were maybe 200 bees left which I removed. 

Now I am trying to save these bees so I decided to combine them with a strong colony. I am using a newspaper method but the colony on the bottom is gluing the paper with propolis and the tiny swarm on the top is huddled on one side of the box with very few bees exploring. There is a small hole in the middle of the paper which was there for the past 4 days but nothing else is going on.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Paul
" It ain't over 'til it's over "........ Yogi Berra

DLMKA

I would have just removed the swarm right away and not worried about getting paid.  Dump the remaining bees in front of another hive.

Pink Cow

This has worked a few times for me:

Remove the box with the little swarm and remove the paper. Sprinkle a fair bit of powdered sugar down into the main hive, and sprinkle the frames with the swarm to cover those bees. Shake them down into the hive and close it up. By the time they clean each other off, they'll have forgotten they are supposed to fight.

Finski

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Bees have a swarm mode still on. It will be removed when they get foundations to be drawn.

I would make a foundation nuc and after that I would join it. But spare lying queens are needed all the time and that is a good opportunity to keep such.
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