[Jerry Kinder]

I put out a nuc to trap a swarm last Thursday. At the time I only had 3 drawn frames so they went in. I built some others this weekend and went out this evening (Wednesday) to put them in and the bees have already moved in. I don't want to scare them off by messing with them to much. So do I let them settle in for a while or do I pop in the new frames right away?

 

[odfrank]

Right away, or they will hang combs from the cover.

I put out a nuc to trap a swarm last Thursday. At the time I only had 3 drawn frames so they went in. I built some others this weekend and went out this evening (Wednesday) to put them in and the bees have already moved in. I don't want to scare them off by messing with them to much. So do I let them settle in for a while or do I pop in the new frames right away?

 

[Jerry Kinder]

Thanks for the quick response:thumbsup: I will take care if it right away. Suns going down but it's still 80+ so the bees shouldn't mind. Thanks again

Followon....
s
Well I put in the new frames and the bees didn't even know I was there. They were busy doing what bees do. They are all buttened up and hopefully happy in their new hive. I probably should put a feeder on them. Something to do tomorrow. Thanks again for the web site with the answers when you need them.

 

[Beeslave]

I 2nd what Frank said. That shouldn't drive them away.

 

[Hambone]

Nice catch Jerry. :thumbsup:

Put some feed on them and let them bee for 10-14 days. Queen will be relaying by then.

 

[honeyman46408]

3rd :banana:

 

[Omie]

Lucky fellow!

 

[ccar2000]

Nice job Jerry! Do you think that your "wild hive" is the source of the swarm? What did you do to lure them in? Hopefully, like Hambone stated the queen will be laying soon. It would also be great if she is a good one as evidenced with a good pattern and eggs in the center of the cells.

 

[Jerry Kinder]

Hi CCar, I caught them in a nuc box that I put together last year and set on the shelf in the back yard behind my shed, about 5 feet off the ground and mostly in the shade. It's the same spot I put it last year with no results, but this time I had some drawn comb in the box. I guess that did the trick. They were all over the two used frames in the box. The third frame was fresh wired foundation and the two I just added are foundationless frames which I added around the drawn frames.

They could be from the hive under the shed but who knows. They look similar, mutts for sure. They are smaller and darker than the package Italian bees I had last year. Maybe the ones I saw are just old bees from last year grown on natural comb. Just looking at the outside of the shed hive, the numbers flying out looks about the same, but the buzz through the floor is not quite as loud (and that could be my imagination). I think change from cold wet weather to warm weather must have triggered swarming around here. Two folks here at work have seen other swarms since the weekend.