Picky queen

[wayne]

  I had a small swarm in the home yard last evening. Caught the swarm and hived them in 2 mediums with a couple frames of used comb to get them started. First try I poured them in and in about 10 minutes they were all back on the limb so I thought I missed the queen. Second try the workers were fanning and I closed up most of the hive but left the top propped up for stragglers. Bees were fanning and all was right with the world until I looked this morning.
  I saw too many bees flying around the yard and went to have a look see. Low and behold there is a swarm in a pine tree at the other end of the yard. wanting to catch them I went to fetch a box and noticed that the box from last night was empty, so it almost had to be the same swarm.
  I took a vial of swarm lure and placed it in the hive as an added attractant and was suiting up when I noticed several bees around the hive. As I watched a cloud of bees decended on the box and moved in. I checked the tree across the yard and it seemed that the bees had chosen to use the box after all.
 Then this evening I checked on them and they have absconded again to parts unknown.
 Ungreatful little buggers.

[BeeMaster2]

If you add a frame of brood, they will not leave.
Jim

[BlueBee]

Dang, all that trouble and they wouldn’t stay. :(

It is frustrating when you go to the bother of catching a swarm just to have them leave.  Especially in today's kind of heat.   I agree with sawdust that a frame of brood will usually keep them from leaving.  I’m getting too lazy to dig out brood for all the swarms; anymore they’re lucky if I give them a frame of honey and some drawn comb.  They usually stay, but there are always those stubborn swarms....

[sc-bee]

You can also add a queen includer on the bottom of the hive.

[hiram.ga.bee.man]

I agree with sc-bee. When getting a swarm put a queen excluder on top of your bottom board, then set your supers or hive body on top. This way that swarm is guaranteed not to go anywhere. the excluder can be removed after two or three days. One other thing i like to do is spray the limb or area where they were with mosquito repellent so the stragglers you missed after you got the queen in the box are forced to look for the queen instead of just returning to the surface where the queens pheromones are strong.

[sc-bee]

Like the mosquito repellent think.

[L Daxon]

Actually, if the location where the swarm landed isn't too high up and/or is fairly easy to get to, I like to leave the queen pheromone on the tree/location. Then when I lose the next swarm, I know there is a good chance that they will go back to the same location the last one did, so that is the first place I check. 

And I now use the "queen includer" when hiving swarms for the first few days.  You just have to have a newly hived swarm abscond on you once to learn to put the "includer" on until they get settled in.  The frame of brood trick is a good one as well.

Linda D. in OKC

[ChrisT]

Also make sure your swarm capture has a solid bottom board.
They must have total darkness for swarm captures.

Chris