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Author Topic: that last swarm left  (Read 1450 times)

Offline rober

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that last swarm left
« on: May 07, 2012, 04:55:28 am »
i'm not sure why. bees will be bees eh? i gave them 2 frames of honey, 2 frames of drawn comb, lemon grass oil. & a frame of brood with eggs. checked the hive earlier & there were about 12 bees in it. well i'm still 4 for 6 plus 2 that left before i arrived to fetch them.

Offline danno

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Re: that last swarm left
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2012, 02:49:14 pm »
try moving them to a new location.  odds of them staying go way when moved

Offline jaseemtp

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Re: that last swarm left
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2012, 06:49:06 pm »
Rober I have had the same problems before.  I am not sure why the do it but I was given a tip to use a queen clip and keep her caged up for 3 days. 
I have even done removals where they would leave after I placed them into a hive.  They even left brood and food behind.
"It's better to die upon your feet than to live upon your knees!" Zapata

Offline rober

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Re: that last swarm left
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2012, 08:35:14 pm »
my mentor even shook his head over this one. like i said they had lemon grass oil, honey, brood, the new foundation was sprayed with syrup, & they had drawn comb. PLUS they were relocated by 15 miles.

Offline blanc

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Re: that last swarm left
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2012, 09:47:49 pm »
rober I had them same thing happen the other day. Vacuumed up a swarm of about 40 gran of bees out of a friend s house and appeared the queen was in the box and when I went back to pick em up they all scooted on me. Was pretty bummed about it but went get another hive today out of a cut down tree and hope these stick around.
Psalm 19:9-10
The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Offline BlueBee

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Re: that last swarm left
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2012, 11:09:44 pm »
Rober, it sounds like you’ve been pretty successful to me!  4 out of 6 swarms isn’t bad.  You can’t win all the time you know  :( 

I’ve caught 7 swarms so far this spring and I do one thing differently than you listed.  I give the bees a little water by squirting some water into some empty cells.  Probably not a big deal and for all I know it might be a completely worthless step, but I am batting 7 for 7 so far this spring.  I’ve caught some real beauties so far.

 

anything