[papachappy7]

Need some answers. I caught a swarm yesterday and hived them. Do I keep them closed up awhile? I went back today to see how many I missed. I put those in a nuc and left an opening to entice the rest in. When I get all I think I can, should I just dump them in with the first catch? I have no idea weather or not I caught the queen. After I open the entrance, should I just leave them alone for a week? If there is a queen, how long will it be before I see evidence, eggs,larva etc?

 

[BoilerJim]

Helloo papa,

I would give them some sugar water 1:1 and close them up and leave them alone for a while. Sometimes they will soak up the sugar water quickly and other times (if a flow is on) they will leave it alone.

If the hive is in your back yard I would keep an eye on it as I have had some swarms leave and I was lucky enough to find them on a bush and recapture them.

Some people use a queen excluder on the bottom to keep the queen insided the hive........I have had beekeep friends that had the queen squeeze through the exluder and leave anyway so I don't use it for keeping swarms.

IF you have any frames of eggs or larva then put one inside and swarms tend to stay and nurse the babies along.

 

[JRG13]

I never screen in a hive unless moving. Just dump the stragglers in, won't hurt anything at this point. Do they have comb? I just hived one, fed it yesterday, gonna check back in a couple weeks and see how they're doing then, won't disturb them anymore before that.

 

[cwood6_10]

Helloo papa,

I would give them some sugar water 1:1 and close them up and leave them alone for a while. Sometimes they will soak up the sugar water quickly and other times (if a flow is on) they will leave it alone.

If the hive is in your back yard I would keep an eye on it as I have had some swarms leave and I was lucky enough to find them on a bush and recapture them.

Some people use a queen excluder on the bottom to keep the queen insided the hive........I have had beekeep friends that had the queen squeeze through the exluder and leave anyway so I don't use it for keeping swarms.

IF you have any frames of eggs or larva then put one inside and swarms tend to stay and nurse the babies along.

I used a queen excluder on the bottom on the last one I caught. I took it off a few days after and they are thriving. i have also put a frame of eggs in the hive to make them do something. Mist some sugar water on the remaining bees and dump them in. They will be just fine!

 

[Acebird]

Any way you can put a frame of eggs in with them in case you didn't get the queen?