Search:

Robherc, just to be clear. I am using langstroth hives , not top bar hives . I don't use foundation on my brood frames, just on my honey supers.

robherc, that make sense , but when all your brood frames have honey in them, then what do you do?

Put out 7. Colonies in 3. Comb built outside one.

Michael - I tried that before they swarmed even . Didn't do a lot of good. They continued to extend the drawn combs that were full of honey , making them fatter and not starting any new comb on the...

By the way Cleo , you are dead right. Swarms do prefer bigger boxes:), my double deep traps seem to have much better success.

Thanks Cleo That is a good suggestion although on second thoughts the last time this happened to me, last year, the comb was built on the outside of a double deep nuc. That nuc was more than enough...

This year I set 7 traps , got swarms in 3.
In another I had lovely comb built outside the trap , nothing inside, then bees absconded. Probably too cold. This happened once last year. Anyone else...

So it looks like the queen is unsatisfactory for some reason, colony is superseding. Best to let those queen cells hatch out. The virgin will fly , mate, come back and start laying. It will take a...

Well I have actually done this sort of thing a few times. It is kind of like a cut out from a building. You pretty much have to cut the thing apart. Take all the combs that have just honey that is...

I have a hive (2 deeps , one med super) that swarmed a week or so ago because it was honey bound. I opened it up yesterday and found some honey in the super, the whole of the upper deep full of...

Okay this is nothing compared with Odfrank, but I have caught 6 swarms in in the 12 bait hives I have put out here in Contra Costa. Next year I will make sure I put the full compliment of empty...

Great job. Let them be in their new spot. Make sure they have plenty of frames and feed them syrup 1:1 and they will have more resources to build up quickly. If you can give them a frame of brood...

Hi Cabees,
I generally feed swarms pretty heavily, especially if they are small. That way they have lots of stores. I find some take syrup readily and others hardly touch it and it doesn't matter if...

I suppose the most important thing will be to figure out is if the bees are in the flue itself or in the cavity that is between the chimney and the wood framing, which I have found to be more likely.

I have 12 traps up and have gotten 4 swarms in those. I have caught 5 other swarms, one of which was mine. I have done one trap out but didn't get the queen and took home a bird house full of bees.

It is a difficult thing to do with a bee vac. If you have enough suction to pull bees out of the tree it could damage them badly. Normally when using a bee vac you adjust the suction so it lifts...

I think that whole helper thing sounds very suspect. I would definitely do that myself if I were you. Send me pictures when you are done :popcorn:
Your pal.
Enchplant

I agree with Dan give them a week if you have the patience. Feed them sugar water. They have a nice nectar flow going on in Novato but my swarms suck down a quart of syrup every day. When the nectar...

Congratulations that is so cool!
I would not be in a hurry to move them as long as you have frames in the trap. If the queen that has moved in lays eggs in a few days then they will have brood to...

Wait till those City and peninsula bees see the sort of pastures we can offer out here in the 'burbs and there will be a huge cloud of bees crossing the bay!

Hi Tazcan, no it was unlikely she was on a mating flight, because she had a dot of paint on her back. Normally when you raise a new queen you don't mark her until she has started to lay eggs. The...

Usually when you meet a swarm it is a tight ball of bees. The queen is in there and all the bees can smell her and stay close. real easy to shake it into a box. In this case they were all up and down...

Yeah, everyone so far has the right idea. Best thing is to get the branch out and frames of foundation in so they have a good place to draw comb. When you are setting it up in its permanent location,...

The things you have to do to! Great that you had a queen clip.

No wonder the queen was half dead on the road having flown from San Mateo. I asked them and they said they had their reasons for leaving and they are not going back!