[Nabber86]

So I went out to feed (frame feeder with 2:1 sugar water) the swarm that I caught last Sunday and put into a deep 5-frame nuc box. When I opened the nuc box there was a bunch of bees, but it didnt look as crowded as it did on Sunday nite. Then I looked behind me and a huge ball-o-bees was hanging out on the same limb of the same cherry tree that I collected the swarm in the first place.

Question: Was it the same swarm that left the nuc box and went back to the tree, or was it a brand new swarm from the hive? (I assume the former).

 

[Beeslave]

Only you can correctly answer this question. The rest of us would just be speculating.

 

[RayMarler]

It might have been the former. I've gotten swarms fly into boxes in my yard with multiple queens in them, that split up into different boxes when they settled down.

You just might have a queen in the box and another in the tree!

 

[naturebee]

FWIW

When hiving swarms, consider your goals.

Unless you are in need of nucs, the swarm should have been
placed in a single hive body, a prime swarm would be
overcrowded in a 5 frame nuc.

Prime swarms are the best 'comb-builders' and 'brood makers'
and usually grow rapidly to be mature honey producing colonies.
So restricting prime swarms in nucs would IMO, would be a waste
of this natural want for them to expand, (unless your goals at this
time do not foresee a need for comb, brood, or mature, honey
producing colonies).

When hiving swarms, a queen includer should be used.

Sometimes, a swarm will split, or a missed queen will cause what you
describe.

Joe
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/HistoricalHoneybeeArticles/