My bees swarmed last night.

[Brian Sisson]

I captured the swarm and hived them, but wondered if it was too late in the year.
I remember someone wrote this-

A swarm in May is worth a load of hay
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon
A swarm in July ain't worth a fly--

And my calendar says it's July.  Will they make it if I feed them regularly?  What of the hive they came from?  Should I feed them?  Should I mash one of the queens and try to merge them back together?

I'm scared, Sarge.
-B.

[keeper007]

i think you should feed it and try to get it through the winter you should have enough time
id wait for someone with more expierance to reply though
good luck

[TwT]

Brian a couple of question before I say anything......  
How big of a swarm is it?????
Do you have any extra drawn out frames????
Do you have a big hive you could take some frames from???

[Brian D. Bray]

Late swarms are often small swarms because they are follow after the main swarm.  They usually occur because of over crowding in the parent hive--when a bee hive is totally full the only option for continued growth is to swarm.
If the swarm is about the size of a 3 pound package then it should be save to attempt to get it into shape to winter over--if smaller just combine it with another hive or put it in a nuc incase you need a queen in an emergency.

[Apis629]

I used to be in the nashville area and, if I remember correctly, the winters weren't that bad.  A few inches of snow, but, generally, not that bad.  I'll bet that if you feed them they'll come through just fine.

[Finsky]

Hives have good time to prepare themselves for winter but it just depends how many broodfamers it gets before winter.


If swarm occupies whole langtsroth box the weight is about  4 lbs.
It takes a month before new bees start to emerge. So hive will raise new generation.
If hive gets too much honey it restrict the brood area.
Feeding makes situation more difficult because bees get now enough nectar from nature.
Before new bees emerge half of swarm have died. Colony is then quite small.

If colony is too small, you may strengten it with brood frame from another hive.
If you have not another hive you may buy a nuc or package.

To get productive hive for next summer you need in spring a whole box of bees.

[Brian Sisson]

I appreciate the advice.
This swarm was the largest I've ever seen, and felt to be around 7#'s worth.  It was much larger than the 3# colony I got from Dadant in April.

I have no idea why they swarmed as both of my hives were doing only semi- well.  In the first of June they had filled out a deep, so I added one.  I then stopped feeding them as per the advice I was given here.  I had put the new deep on the bottom as the old deep (on both hives) was all messed up since I had used spacers there was burr comb everywhere.  
As my new deeps were on the bottom, I didn't check the bottom deeps until the end of June.  When I did I saw that both hives had basically stopped comb production when I had added the deep.  There seemed to be no new growth of either hive and their stores had decreased by about 1/4th.  I Didn't see any swarm cells then.  I started feeding the bees a 25% sugar solution.  
That's been going well, and the bees are much less aggressive than they were.  
Then, I see this.  The odd part is that I can't tell which hive it came from.  Neither hive seem the least bit smaller, and this swarm is so large that it seems it wouldn't be hard to tell.
And the other odd part is that my 2 hives are Italian and Russian.  The Russian's are noticeably darker than the Italians.  These bees appear to be slightly darker then the Italians, but too light to be Russians.  And they're all the same color.  My other 2 hives will have 2/5 bees that are not the same as the rest.  

I'd think this was a feral swarm, but they were only about 20' from my 2 hives.  

At any rate, I got 'em now.  I have no drawn frames to add to them and as both my other hives have had a bum year so far, I hate to take frames out of either of them.  

Our winters are mild, and I have no problem feeding them all winter long if needed.  
I hate to stop feeding them now and then they have trouble.  And I hate to feed them too much now and they have no room for brood.

I'm torn....like an old sweater.
-B.

[Finsky]

As my new deeps were on the bottom, I didn't check the bottom deeps until the end of June.  When I did I saw that both hives had basically stopped comb production when I had added the deep.

 There seemed to be no new growth of either hive and their stores had decreased by about 1/4th.

I Didn't see any swarm cells then.  I started feeding the bees a 25% sugar solution.
-B.

It seems that you had flowering gap in nature and bees had not enough work to do. That genarates swarming easily.

To feed sugar in the middle of summer is not fair job.

I you have bad week or two and bees eat they stores it is not reason to feed sugar.

.

[Brian D. Bray]

New beekeepers make 3 mistakes in hive management that often leads to swarms: 1. Overfeeding, 2. Waiting too long to super so the bees become crowded, and 3. Not recognizing the signs that lead to swarming or, all to often, not even recognizing queen cells when they see them. But I agree that the swarm was probably feral (not from your hives).

Suggestion: stop feeding your bees and let them be bees.  Feeding can cause them to become honey bound and then they will swarm.  give them a chance to work out of the doldrums themselves.  Start feeding again in Spetember is necessary to carry them over the winter but usually they will correct any problems on their own given time and sufficient size (strength).