Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and info. It sounds like the swarm I got is doing what other folks have observed. This weekend I'm going to have another look-see in the hive and, if nothing is still going on, will add a brood frame from my other established hive to hopefully get things going. My established hive has an Italian queen. The bees in the swarm are much darker in color so I'm guessing they might be Carniolan (which are known to be prone to swarming). Would there be any problem taking a brood frame from my Italian queen hive and putting it in with the other bee type (e.g., Carniolan)? Thanks again.
Not much happening in caught swarm!?
We caught our first swarm last Friday (May 14), but are not completely sure if we captured the queen because the swarm was 15 feet up in a tree and we caught them at night. We're beekeeping beginners and don't know what to look for in a swarm hive. Basically we put the swarm of bees into a 10 frame super with waxed foundation frames. We've been feeding them them sugar water daily. Everyday we check the hive from the outside entrance and the bees don't seem to leave the hive. They walk to the feeder, drink from it, and walk back into the hive (we don't see them fly from the hive). We opened and checked the hive this evening (six days after capture) and the bees were clustered between the hive box wall and the outermost frame. There was no signs of comb building. Is this normal? Or does this seem to indicate that there is no queen? We have another established strong hive of bees. Should we take a brood frame from that hive and put it in the new swarm hive to get them started? Any help or suggestions are appreciated.
