SWARM!! Now what....

1676 Views 11 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Robbin, Jun 30, 2014

Bob D

Discussion Starter · Jun 26, 2014

20 days ago I purchased a 5 frame nuc. I installed it in a 10 frame deep with the 5 frames from the nuc and 5 old frames that were pretty much drawn out. Then, I didn't touch them. I figured I'd give them 3 weeks to a month left along until I checked and added a second deep.

Well, yesterday, just before the heavy rain, that hive swarmed! Lucky for me, they landed in a sapling about 8 feet tall and gathered. Being my first ever swarm, I thought, EASY! Just cut the branch off, shake them into a nuc box with frames and comb and I'll be a all set... So, I did that and it Was easy!

1 Hour later I looked out the window and there was NO activity by the nuc box. So, I went to check and, to my surprise, there wasn't a single bee in the box anymore! I guess the queen hadn't joined them yet. Go figure!

I looked around the yard and found them again. This time out of reach and up about 30 feet. I took a poll saw and trimed the branches around the swarm so I may be able to drop them onto a white sheet and recatch them.

So, it poured all night and this morning. It isn't clearing, but the rain has ended and there is a breeze. Can I:

1) Put down a white sheet and thake that branch (or cut it) and them drop onto the sheet and then dump them in the nuc with 3 deep frames it if for starters?

2) How do I keep them there so they don't just leave again?

3) Is 3 frames in a 5 frame nuc enough for starters?

4) I put some lemmon oil and lemon grass oil in a piece of paper tower and put it in the nuc. Is that good?

5) Do I have a better chance leaving them along and hoping they go into the nuc by themselves?

6) Would I be able to catch them by shaking them ut of the tree or clipping that branch off and letting them fall to a white sheet?

I have 1 hive right now (the one that swarmed). If I can catch them, do I need to move the nuc (captured swarm) as far away from my other hive or can I put it next to it. (I used to have 2 hive side by side)

Thanks everyone! I just couldn't believe they filled that 1st deep in 20 days and swarmed! My ONLY hive this year!!

Bob

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beesohappy

· #2 · Jun 26, 2014

After you get the bees down put them in a nuc with a frame of open brood. I've never seen them leave brood.

Good luck getting them down. You might try climbing the tree and tying a rope to the tree branch and use another one to hold the rope as a pivot point then cut the branch that holds the bees and gently lower it down. I did that once and it worked out great.

Most importantly get a frame of open brood in the nuc!

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rweakley

· #3 · Jun 26, 2014

This is the best job out there for a queen excluder. Either via an entrance disc with QE setting or a 10 frame box with the queen excluder on the bottom board and the hivebody on top of that. They aren't going to leave again without there queen (at least not perm)

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Vance G

· #4 · Jun 26, 2014

The nuc box was probably too small to meet their needs as the single ten frame bow was. Do you have another deep box? Consider putting a queen excluder on the bottom board if you have one and set the swarmed colony back on top of the bottom board. Put another deep on top of the original hive and shake the swarm into the top box. and put a lid with no entrances or openings on it. That way the queen cannot leave with any swarm. Hopefully they will decide to stay. If you could find the queen I would advocate taking her and a couple frames of brood and putting them in your nuc box and killing all the cells but two on the same frame. Some one told you the bees wouldn't make a crop the first year anyway right?

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Robbin

· #5 · Jun 26, 2014

If a queen excluder on the bottom board can stop a swarm, why don't we put excluders on all our hives and stop all swarming?

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Bob D

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 26, 2014

Vance G said:
The nuc box was probably too small to meet their needs as the single ten frame bow was. Do you have another deep box? Consider putting a queen excluder on the bottom board if you have one and set the swarmed colony back on top of the bottom board. Put another deep on top of the original hive and shake the swarm into the top box. and put a lid with no entrances or openings on it. That way the queen cannot leave with any swarm. Hopefully they will decide to stay. If you could find the queen I would advocate taking her and a couple frames of brood and putting them in your nuc box and killing all the cells but two on the same frame. Some one told you the bees wouldn't make a crop the first year anyway right?

Thanks for your reply

Put them back in the same hive?

And yes, I was told they wouldn't do much the first year. In the past, when I got a nuc it took well over a month to get the 1st deep 3/4 drawn to ad a second floor. So, I got this on the 6th of june and hived the nuc and wasn't going to bother them until July 1st. Looks like they beat me too it!

So, you wouldn't make a second hive out of them? There seems to be a lot of bees left in the original hive and the swarm ball looks like about at least a 3lb Package if not more!

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Vance G

· #7 · Jun 26, 2014

Because the excluder soon plugs with drones who can't get out either. It is a temporary measure until you can address the core problem on a non rainy day.

Robbin said:
If a queen excluder on the bottom board can stop a swarm, why don't we put excluders on all our hives and stop all swarming?

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Ottersbugs

· #8 · Jun 26, 2014

I just read a very interesting book on beekeeping that had one account of the beekeeper throwing a thin line over the tree branch and tying a frame of brood to the rope and pulling it up to the swarm. The swarm totally covered the frame and they then lowered the frame and hived the swarm again. Then there is always the shotgun method... Good luck!!!

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j.kuder

· #9 · Jun 27, 2014

Ottersbugs said:
I just read a very interesting book on beekeeping that had one account of the beekeeper throwing a thin line over the tree branch and tying a frame of brood to the rope and pulling it up to the swarm. The swarm totally covered the frame and they then lowered the frame and hived the swarm again. Then there is always the shotgun method... Good luck!!!

i just did that 2 days ago 50 ft up in a tree used a fishin pole to cast a weight over the branch tied a 100 ft clothes line to the fishin line pulled that over the branch about 18 inches away from the swarm then i tied on a frame of open brood and hauled that up there. i used the rope to shake the branch had to do it several times each time more of the swarm moved to the frame. once the queen joined them the rest jumped on and i lowered them down and right into the box. to old to climb trees anymore. that was the first time i tried that and it worked good.

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FlowerPlanter

· #10 · Jun 27, 2014

Put them back in the same hive?

No, a new box with a frame of open brood.

I have not tries the rope trick, but I have tied a frame of brood to a pole and touched the swarm with it, and it worked fine.

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Michael Bush

· #11 · Jun 27, 2014

>1) Put down a white sheet and thake that branch (or cut it) and them drop onto the sheet and then dump them in the nuc with 3 deep frames it if for starters?

Even better, give them a frame of open brood. Also, let them move in on their own instead of dumping them in the nuc. Odds are if they move in on their own they won't go anywhere.

> 2) How do I keep them there so they don't just leave again?

They stay or they don't, but like I said, if they move in on their own they usually stay. The sheet works well for that.

> 3) Is 3 frames in a 5 frame nuc enough for starters?

I'm not sure what you mean, but if you put bees in a five frame box it should have at least five frames in it. Always. If you mean drawn comb, the more the better.

> 4) I put some lemmon oil and lemon grass oil in a piece of paper tower and put it in the nuc. Is that good?

Four drops is good. More is not. Less is ok.

> 5) Do I have a better chance leaving them along and hoping they go into the nuc by themselves?

Doubtful they will move in by themselves without some queen pheromone as well, but they may.

> 6) Would I be able to catch them by shaking them ut of the tree or clipping that branch off and letting them fall to a white sheet?

That's a better plan, yes.

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Robbin

· #12 · Jun 30, 2014

Vance G said:
Because the excluder soon plugs with drones who can't get out either. It is a temporary measure until you can address the core problem on a non rainy day.

thanks Vance, I should have known that!

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