First Swarm & Question

[TheCheatOSX]

I was lucky to have our security office call me about a swarm at work today just after lunch. The weather was wonderful and I was caught up on work so I told them I would take care of it. It was of medium size I guess. It was in a small shrub in some landscaping. It was very easy to get to and a great first swarm to capture. I clipped out the small twigs with bees and placed them in a cardboard nuc box. I didn't have a hive set up so the race was on to attach my roofing material and get the legs on and the hive level and get the bees in because I also had my first beekeepers club meeting tonight with this new club I found and I didn't want to miss it. I was going to add windows in the two extra hives I had built but that plan fell through this afternoon in the mad dash. My purchased bees were in nucs so this was my first experience with a swarm/package. LOTS of bees in the air when I shook them into the hive! A little bit different than moving frames over :)

The temp dropped to low 50's after I returned from the meeting. I went to go get the nuc box that I left open and in front of the hive and found a handful size cluster still in the box so I put the lid on it and opened the entrance hole. Inside the hive (I looked up through the bottom screen) the bees are in three clusters. One big one and two smaller ones in three corners. So here's the question. Is this normal behavior or did I lose or kill the queen in the transfer? I just expected them to all be in one big cluster to keep warm tonight.

Wow, I didn't expect to have three hives already. Three looks to be the limit in my small urban backyard. Hopefully this swarm will survive and have some good genetics.

[Michael Bush]

Or it may be an afterwarm with three virgin queens.

[buckbee]

...or even an afterswarm :)

[TheCheatOSX]

Well, they all joined up in one big cluster the next day so I hope all is well. Here is a shot up through the screened bottom (my hives are on legs).

http://chris.norrick.com/bees/Norrick_Apiary/Bee_Blog/Entries/2008/5/12_My_First_Swarm_files/shapeimage_3.jpg

What the heck is an after swarm?

[buckbee]

I see they are rooting for Hillary! ;)

[Michael Bush]

The primary swarm is the first, usually biggest with the old queen. The after swarms are after that with virgin queens, often several of them in one swarm.

[buckbee]

Or it may be an afterwarm with three virgin queens.

Sorry Michael, I was being facetious :mad: - just picking up on your typo - 'afterwarm' instead of 'afterswarm'. :)

[TheCheatOSX]

He was answering my question of what an afterswarm was. The reply wasn't directed at you.

I thought the newspaper headline was appropriate (but accidental), "Remembering Your Mother". That's not Hilary! I wasn't going to feed this swarm, but I felt sorry for them as it's going to rain here for the next several days, so I put some sugar on the newspaper and slid it under the follower board.

[TheCheatOSX]

Well, I checked on my captured swarm hive today and it's empty. Ok, not technically empty as there were two bees in there and they left three small combs that weren't quite centered on the bars and were rotated about 15 degrees off-center. I cut these off and sewed them on the center of the bars and placed them in another hive. I expanded that hive all the way out because I seen several swarm cells on it today. Hopefully with all this extra space and some new comb starts they will stay. Why are these bees giving a rookie such a hard time?

[Tomas]

Hey Chris,

Sorry about losing the swarm. It happens but it’s never fun. Most of my experience has been with swarms of Africanized bees but it has to pertain in some degree to European bees also.

If I just dump the bees into an empty box, they will almost never stay—a day at the most. Ideally I need to put a comb or two of brood with them. Having those young larvae to take care of gives them enough initiative to stay and establish themselves. I usually have real good success doing it this way—over 90 percent. Putting an empty comb or two can also work, but to a lesser degree.

It’s to the point where if someone tells me they have a swarm in their back yard, I will only get it if I know I can get to my other hives to steal some brood from them (usually I don’t have any hives right in my backyard—they’re outside of town). If the swarm is just going to stay in the empty box it’s not worth spending my time to get it out of the tree. It’s almost a sure thing they will leave on me.

But again, this is dealing with Africanized bees. Maybe someone else can chime in and tell us with what frequency this happens with a swarm of European bees in an empty box.

An idea is to maybe “borrow” a brood comb from your other hive, even if the hive is small and doesn’t have much brood yet. Put it with the swarm for several days until they are getting established with their own combs and brood and then rotate it back into the other box (or maybe even just leave it with them). It would be worth it if it helps a nice swarm to stay.

Good luck on the next one.

----------
Tom

[TheCheatOSX]

Thanks for the tips Tom. I'll try them out if I ever get another one. They were in there for nearly a week so I though I was home free. Having the comb not centered on the bars would have been a real pain to deal with if they had stayed so I guess they did me a favor.