Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => HONEYBEE REMOVAL => Topic started by: Rex Smith on May 15, 2012, 09:08:38 pm
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Hey folks,
I picked up a swarm last week after getting a call from a friend that they had a swarm in her back yard. Their yard generally has a swarm that arrives every year.
This swarm pretty well filled my 5-frame nuc (with 3 frames with foundation in place - and the other 2 were foundationless frames).
Once home, I moved the bees to a 10-frame deep, with a screened bottom board and a frame-feeder. 2 days later.. the bees absconded. Luckily, though - to a tree in my own yard. I've re-captured them, and have them back in the 5-frame nuc.. and they seem content there.
Should I have kept the bees in the 5-frame nuc longer? Any ideas as to why they absconded? Too much room? Got too cool in the evening with the screened bottom board? Or maybe they just didn't like the box.. who knows... I'll wait til they draw out the 5 frames before moving them again. By then - I hope they'll appreciate the screened bottom board.
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You right with the who knows. Maybe they did not like being moved so soon again or the screen bottom. Keep them in the nuc for a bit and then move them into the 10 frame hive. And put a swarm trap in your friends yard.
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And put a swarm trap in your friends yard.
must be a bee tree around.
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A frame of brood from another hive will anchor them.
Steve
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duck made a suggestion the other day to put a queen excluder between the bottom board and hive body. I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet but sounds like a fabulous idea!
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Put the queen in a queen catcher and rubberband it to one of the frames. Keep her in there for two days. Once they start drawing comb and here pheromones saturate the hive, they won't leave.
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Put the queen in a queen catcher and rubberband it to one of the frames. Keep her in there for two days. Once they start drawing comb and here pheromones saturate the hive, they won't leave.
Funny thing... In the 1.5 days that they WERE on those original frames - they drew out enough comb for the queen to lay 200-300 eggs. When I saw that the bees had absconded - I threw that frame into one of my queenless hives so they could create a new queen. Knocked down a few of the cells so they'd get the hint.
This nuc gets pretty darned active during the day. The bees are gentle enough - but wow.. they are much more active than my other hives with Italians. I've got a plastic queen excluder that I can cut to fit over the entrance of the nuc that I'm using... They seem pretty happy so far back in the 5-frame nuc for now.
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Just give them a frame with honey and some kids to take care of. They usually will hang around.
The excluder sometimes delays that virgin from her mating flights.
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The excluder sometimes delays that virgin from her mating flights.
right.. i have used the excluder when you know you got a big fat mated queen and you can keep them from taking off.
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duck made a suggestion the other day to put a queen excluder between the bottom board and hive body. I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet but sounds like a fabulous idea!
You can own lee leave the queen excluder on for 2 or 3 days. (you may have a virgin queen) Some time OPEN brood will hold them.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
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And put a swarm trap in your friends yard.
must be a bee tree around.
Or a beekeepen :-D
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
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I most always cage her for up to two days. That usually will anchor them. Sometimes a brood frame will anchor them but I have had them abandon brood before. If it is happening on a regular basis consider your equipment to be the source. You can also clip her wings.
...JP
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They've now been in the 5-frame nuc box for about 2 weeks. It's already time to move them to a standard 10-frame deep, as they've drawn out comb on all the frames, and the hive is really bustling - and eggs laid in a very solid pattern.
I've already taken one of the frames and knocked down 7-8 cells and last week placed it into one of my queenless hives. I'll check the frames on that one to see if they created a queen cell from that frame of eggs.
Time to build more screened bottom boards!