Hived feral hive today

[Ronnie Elliott]

I went into a square board carport support today, to remove a unwanted hive. It had plenty of brood, some capped honey. Some of the cells were green in color, but was moist, not ropey. Could this bee polen? I put all the comb cells with rubber bands in the empty frames. I used a bee vac, and captured 98-percent of all the bees present, 1-hr before dark. I carried them to the farm, and hived them, with a green cedar bush in front, with an queen excluder on the bottom. I plan not to open the hive to remove the excluder until Saturday, to be sure there settled in. With honey present, do i need to feed them a 1/1 sugar syrup? I didn't see the queen in all that mob of bees.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

It's a rare occasion that I see a queen in a cutout.

If you put a lot of honey in the box with the bees they should be fine for a day or so unless it's hot, it really isn't necessary IMO to shut them in. It is unlikely that they would abscond especially since you have brood in the new hive. I don't think the includer was that good of an idea for a cutout, and marginally good for a caught swarm.

I have used the includer for caught swarms a few times, I had problems with unmated or young queens that left and could not get back in. I found them under the includer with a ball of bees trying to get back in. I think the only reason she didn't leave is because I was giving them brood frames and honey from an extablished hive for a quick boost and the bees did not want to leave.