Caught half-swarm. Now what?

[romduck]

I knew that one hive was crowded, but it poured rain for days before I went away on vacation so i couldn't give them more room.

When I came back I found the swarm 30 ft up in a tree near the edge of my roof. I climbed up and, as gently as I could using tree pruning equipment, I brought down the limb, capturing about 1/2 the swarm. The remainder fell and, the next morning, reorganized higher in the tree and then left.

I placed the portion that I had captured in a new hive that I have put together near my other 3. In it I placed an entrance feeder to try to keep them happy for now.

Three days later, they are still in there but I don't know what my next step should be.

Any thoughts?

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Rommie L. Duckworth
<RomDuck@snet.net>

[bjerm2]

Give them a frame of brood, open with some eggs. See if they start making a queen cell, if they do order another queen or give them a queen cell from the original hive. Or use the newspaper method and combind them with the original hive.
Dan

[This message has been edited by bjerm2 (edited September 01, 2004).]

[romduck]

Thanks. I figured that if I can't be sure that the queen is with them, I could probably use newspaper to get them back with their original hive, but I wasn't sure.

Thanks for the thoughts.

[SippyBees]

I climbed several trees this year getting swarms.... couple time tied a 40' ladder to the back of my truck with ropes either side to stabilize the ladder... I must have been drinking that day... won't do that again. Just ain't worth falling 40' for a swarm of bees.... last 3 swarms I got I got smart... used a 12 gauge with a 30" full choke. Shoot the limb about a foot away from the swarm.. clipped limb of clean... then it dropped stright down to within 8" of the Nuc I had sitting on the ground. My wife then gathered up most and put into nuc, laid a frame on ground for others to crawl onto before I put them in the box also... quick and easy and clean... actually only my wife dressed out for it... I just went without a shirt and carried the gun. My wife was still amazed I could knock down that limb with one shot : )
'course at only about 25' from the muzzle you can't hardly miss.. : ) Yep... think in the future if I can't get 'em with my 12 ga. I'll just wait for an easier swarm... : )

[Michael Bush]

>I knew that one hive was crowded, but it poured rain for days before I went away on vacation so i couldn't give them more room.

If you really wanted you could pull the lid off and put a super on and put the lid on in the rain.

>When I came back I found the swarm 30 ft up in a tree near the edge of my roof. I climbed up and, as gently as I could using tree pruning equipment, I brought down the limb, capturing about 1/2 the swarm. The remainder fell and, the next morning, reorganized higher in the tree and then left.

My best luck is with the swarm bucket. I hit them from underneath. Some swarms are too high. Some are too hard to get to, but most it works fine on. If it doesn't work, I usually don't mess with a ladder unless I think I can do it safely.

>I placed the portion that I had captured in a new hive that I have put together near my other 3. In it I placed an entrance feeder to try to keep them happy for now.Three days later, they are still in there but I don't know what my next step should be.

I agree with Bjerm2. Give them some eggs and open brood and see what they do. If they start to raise a queen, then I'd probably combine them, since it's late in the year.

[romduck]

Thanks again. Great info for the next time it happens, if I'm here to see it that is.

It would have been easier to just put the nuc near the little buggers and let them crawl. The actually landed in my pile of unsplit wood so there was virtually no picking them up.

Well, that's what this is all about; learning for next time.