Friends, I removed a hive from a house on Tuesday (3 days ago) and relocated the hive to my yard. I placed a queen excluder (includer) at the entrance of the hive to keep her from leaving. Yesterday and today, the bees swarmed...they filled the air, but they got only about 20 yards from the hive, turned back to the hive, and blanketed it. They hang on the outside of the hive, and after an hour, they all go back in.
On Tuesday, I removed 8 medium frames of comb, and when I got the hive to my yard, I added a box with 8 empty frames beneath the full one. I didn't, however, move any of the brood comb to the bottom box to keep the brood nest open because I didn't want to manipulate them too much in one day. I think this may have been a mistake.
Are they trying to swarm because they feel as if they're out of room, but they can't because I've sequestered the queen?
How long will they keep doing this?
What can I do so they'll stay?
-Liz
Here's the little video I took when I caught them today:
Big Daddy bees want to swarm