are you sure you got the queen? Had a swarm do that and I had missed the queen somehow!
I have picked up seven swarms this year and they all did exactly what you described. I stapled queen excluders over the entrance to attempt to keep the queen in. The bees always came back so I assumed the queen couldn't get out. I later checked and two of the swarms were queen-less. I just guessed the bees were "swarmy" and needed some time to get it out of their heads. :scratch:Got a 2+ pound swarm yesterday afternoon. Gathered them a 5 gal. bucket and put them in a long medium then put in the frames removed for dumping in the gals (Frameless - Drawn comb - F -D - F - D - then all F) & put an entrance feeder on. By the time I got done they were flying all over the place up to 20' away or so, were coming out of the bottom entrance, bearding all over the front and sides, after about an hour they started to go back into the hive. Checked about 06:00 this AM and they are all inside with a lot of buzzing. O this swarm was gathered about 6 miles away.
Any opinions :s
Not true,Question,
I've heard swarm queens can go through excludes, because they are thin for the swarming. If true a push in cage might be a better option.
Anyone know if its true?