What did I capture?

[wallrue]

Obviously, I'm new at this. This is my first swarm season as a beekeeper.

On May 3, I was notified of a "swarm" not far from my home so I figured I'd have a go at it. When I got there, there were two small clusters of bees about a foot apart in a douglas fir tree. There was also a blob of bees on the ground underneath the two clusters. Each group of bees was about the size of a baseball.

I put a box of used foundationless frames (basically they had a little bit ---1 to 2 rows--- of drawn comb at the top, but nothing else) by the cluster on the ground and they pretty much marched in. There was a tight group of bees about the size of a golf ball that I had to work out of the grass and place in the box.

I waited about an hour for the bees above to move into the hive, but no go. It was getting to be dusk and they just seemed to be clustering on the limb. I scrapped off as many and I could and went on my way.

I pretty much thought that what I have is not a swarm with a queen. That may be the majority of the swarm had left before I got there. I put the box out in the apiary and chalked it up to a couple hours of homeowner education.

I checked on them yesterday and they have drawn some comb. Does that indicate that I have a queen? Will bees draw comb with out a queen?

[AmericasBeekeeper]

Bees will draw comb without a queen.
``It only works in the movies - "if you build it they will come" You need to move them to your hive.

[PatBeek]

I've been wondering this same thing myself.

Will they ball-up without a queen?

Mine were balled-up from the beginning and are drawing-out new comb, but I have no conclusive proof the queen is there.