Post Catch Routine

[Cheech]

To all you bee catching experts. How do you treat the bees after catching to ensure success?
I just cut a branch with a swarm, put into a TBH with some sugar water and the next day they flew away.

Cheech

[greenbtree]

Yeah, does anyone put in a queen excluder between the bottom board and the hive body?  I don't use TBHs and have had good luck putting swarms on new foundation with one drawn frame in the middle to start.  But one of my cut outs absconded after 2 - 3 days this year.

Jc

[buzzbee]

Finding the queen and putting her in a queen clip for a couple days will make it more likely they will stay.

[buzzbee]

A queen excluder may work or may not.
A virgin or newly mated queen may still go through the excluder.if using as a queen included,remember it also traps drones,so only use it for a couple days.

[JP]

I try my best to cage every queen at least two days while feeding them. This allows them to build comb/have cells ready for laying by mated queens. this usually does the trick.


...JP

[AllenF]

Drawn foundation is good also.   I like to throw a frame or 2 of drawn foundation in with a swarm.

[hardwood]

I try to cage the queen as well. Open brood will help to anchor them too.

Scott

[Cheech]

Thanks guys for the replies.  It never occurred to me that catching the queen (or securing her somehow) was so important.
I'v seen JP and Hardwood painstakingly try to find the queen in every video, I tried to find her but it was nightfall, and I just cut the branch with the swarm and put it into the TBH, hoping that since the queen was in the box, then they would stay.
They stayed for one day, then the next morning no bees to be seen.
Nothing like learning first hand

BTW, love your videos JP and Hardwood, can't wait to see Schawee back at it

Cheers

[Rex Smith]

Cheech,

Sometimes even with a queen - they just don't like the box.  I took a swarm this last spring that was finicky.  Brought it home in a 5-frame nuc - and opened up the entrance. The next morning - around 11am - they exited the box and went to a limb of a tree in my yard.  I re-caught the swarm and put them in a different box - and this time they liked it.

The same colony, though - about a month later had the queen leave after I placed a screened bottom board under the brood boxes.  I found her and caged her and replaced into the hive.   This particular hive just doesn't like changes in their environment, I suppose.

[D Coates]

I'm too lazy (i.e. I'm not good at it) to look for the queen in a swarm.  I put a frame of open brood in a 5 frame nuc, knock the swarm in and once they start fanning and marching I give them another 10 minutes and leave with the hive.  If the customer is needing them all gone I offer to come back after dark to remove the nuc.  This gets all the stragglers and I do charge for the return visit.  Some folks are more than happy to pay it (commercial locations and some homeowners who are very spooked).  I've never had one reissue if I put open brood in there.

[johnnybigfish]

Yep...I use the excluder between the floor and first box...Its a great idea! I'm not much of a queen finder either....Most bees I catch are hot!( africanized!) But I like to keep them long enuff to find out!
your friend,
john