July Swarm

[arky188]

Ive read on here that July swarms are not very good or promising. I caught one today by my hives and was wondering if i could combine it with my daughters hive that is a little weaker than her sisters hive, and if so do i need to use the newspaper method or just exactly how? Its a pretty small swarm.
Thanks
Tony

[magnet-man]

Kill the queen and combine with the newspaper method.

[arky188]

wont the queen be very hard to find since shes shrunken up?

[wade]

I'd put them in a nuc box for about a month, and help them out if needed with feed, brood, or more bees. In that time you should have a recognizable queen and a frame or three of brood from her. Then you can decide which queen to squish and then do the newspaper combine. If your existing hive isn't doing as well as you'd hope maybe this new young queen would be a better choice to head the combine.

[HarryVanderpool]

Tony, are you relating to the old rule:
"A swarm in May is worth a load of hay,
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon,
A swarm in July isn't worth a fly"

In my operation, a good swarm with a young queen in July has great value. Also, I like to have as many nucs and singles started as possible in July and August.

Certainly, there will be a handful of hives that will have queen problems later on in the year.

At that time you can "plug in" several frames of bees and brood, no newspaper nessisary, for an instant fix on these hives.

As Wade suggested, manage the swarm as a nuc for use later.
:cool:

[arky188]

A swarm in July isn't worth a fly" yup, thats what ive read on here lol

[Fuzzy]

This obsession/madness began with a swarm in a tree the week before thanksgiving. Wife said, ohhhh why don't you put them in a box and keep them.
Got a hive, put bees in, and fed syrup every day.
By end of Jan, the first deep was drawn out and a second went on. They swarmed in April and still gave me 80lbs of honey.

But then, this is northern California. I didn't know it wasn't supposed to work...

Fuzzy

[AstroBee]

Absolutely keep your options open - keep them in a nuc for later use. In late fall if you have a weak colony combine. Heck, maybe you should experiment with overwintering a nuc. The new data from this experiment may result that in a revolution in your beekeeping practices.

[magnet-man]

I would combine now instead of making a separate nuc that will be combined later. Colonies need a certain critical mass in order to get out of the doldrums. It you combine now you will end up with more bees by the end of winter than letting swarm stay in a nuc and then combining.

You did not mention how big this swarm was but my guess is that it is not very large.

[Exquisite Bee]

How do you just instantly plug in a frame of brood and bees hanging on it from one hive to another hive with NO newspaper method???? Doesn't that cause a WAR??? Is there an instant acceptance???? Help me understand this please!!

[xC0000005]

Not in my experience, Exquisite. In making nucs, I found the queen, then chose frames she wasn't on and swapped them into the nucs. No wars ensued.

[Exquisite Bee]

So, the bees that would be on the frame of capped brood won't be considered intruders into another hive, if the whole framed is just plugged into another hive?????

[carbide]

I just made up a nuc on Monday. I put four frames of brood/pollen/honey into it from four different hives. No fighting occured and by the end of the day the nuc was displaying normal front door activity. Bees coming and going, guard bees and fanning bees.

[dickm]

>>>this new young queen <<<
Aren't we forgetting that the old queen usually leaves with the swarm?

When adding frames of brood and bees: these bees are young nurse bees and not very agressive.

dickm

[Tug Fork Bob]

I caught a swarm Aug. 2 last year. Had a hive bodies with drawn comb from 25 years or so ago that had not been used since that I put them in. My beekeeping knowledge (what little was left of it) was from 25/30 years ago also so I didn't know it was a long shot. Didn't feed them or anything and they got thru the winter fine and I'm further north than you are--(SE Iowa). The good(?!) thing was it inspired me to find this forum and now I have 2 strong colonies with 4 supers on each, a long hive made from a split that is coming along well, more equipment,------

Bob

[peggjam]

Most of the old sayings were based on making a honey crop the first year, not many hives were wintered, they generally killed the bees and took all the honey. In todays world, if a swarm will increase enough to get through the winter, it is worth at least package price, which is no small amount of money. I would leave it as a nuc for now, and if you have to, combine it with a hive in the fall.

"Aren't we forgetting that the old queen usually leaves with the swarm?"

True, assuming that this hive has not swarmed at least once this year already. If it has, this could be either a virgin queen, or a newly mated queen. But, even old queens have their value.

If you observe fighting when putting a frame of bees and brood into a different hive, just apply lots of smoke, the ensuing confusion usually takes care of any fighting.

[AstroBee]

>But, even old queens have their value.

You bet they do. One of my best queens is three years old.

[Jeff McGuire]

I was on vacation last week and came home Tuesday night July 18. The weather had been very hot for a few days and then had severe thunderstorms that night. The next morning I was looking out my back yard and noticed a swarm above my hives about 30 feet up. All three of my hives are from packages this year. I placed out some traps. None of the bees were even interested in them. I got a line over the branch they were on and gave it a sharp pull and sure enough they had built quite a bit of comb already. So I am going to climb up and cut the branch and get them in a hive. I figure its worth a shot since this queen is new this year and she came from my best developed hive. I haven't gone into the hive yet to check thats where she came from. How long should I wait? I don't want to accidently destroy a queen cell by opening everything up too soon. Also should I give the swarm a box of comb from the old hive to help them out? I had 3 mediums full before they swarmed.

[Winterhawk]

I agree with peggjam, put it in a nuc and have 2 queens laying. If you combine latter you will know which queen to keep or may need a spare for one of your other hives. I have always had good luck with late swarms.