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I hived a swarm Tuesday that consisted of backing my pickup under the low hanging branch and giving it one moderate shake into a deep. Placed them in a garden. My son captured another ultra easy swarm the next day and put them next to the first.
On Thursday mine totally absconded. His seem to be doing well.
On reflection the swarm never seemed quite "right".
They wanted to stay clustered outside the box while I initially hived them, during transport, and even for a day after being plunked down in the garden. It was probably a 4lb swarm, tightly clustered on a salt cedar bush. The capture was as gentle as any I've done so I don't think the queen was an issue, and the fact that they were clustering appropriately indicated a queen although I didn't see her. I lopped the branch off that they were on and left it with them so there was very little "searching for queen" activity.
The equipment; bottom board, deep, frames, inner, and top were all old but not trashed. Frames were scraped plastic (not wax coated).
Sometimes bees just flat leave. What conditions have you encountered that you think cause them to abscond soon after being hived?
On Thursday mine totally absconded. His seem to be doing well.
On reflection the swarm never seemed quite "right".
They wanted to stay clustered outside the box while I initially hived them, during transport, and even for a day after being plunked down in the garden. It was probably a 4lb swarm, tightly clustered on a salt cedar bush. The capture was as gentle as any I've done so I don't think the queen was an issue, and the fact that they were clustering appropriately indicated a queen although I didn't see her. I lopped the branch off that they were on and left it with them so there was very little "searching for queen" activity.
The equipment; bottom board, deep, frames, inner, and top were all old but not trashed. Frames were scraped plastic (not wax coated).
Sometimes bees just flat leave. What conditions have you encountered that you think cause them to abscond soon after being hived?