Help swarm took over old hive

[Kathyp]

i think we have confused you!  :-)  if they are happy where you have put them, i'd leave them.  did you get most of the brood moved?  was there much anyway if they had not been in the old box that long?  feed them like everybody said and maybe they'll settle down.

you are getting a heck of an intro to beekeeping!  hang in.  you are doing great!!

[Atti]

I am super tired. I think I just got a crash course on bee keeping. Sorry to be should a pain with so many questions but you guys have experience and I had just three days so thanks for your input. So what is the census do I move them? do I take off the entrance reducer. :-P

[Robo]

My thought would just leave them be. But then again it was my suggestion that got you into this mess   Just out of curiosity, how close are the 2 hives?  If they aren't getting backed up by the entrance reduce like a traffic jam,  it won't hurt anything to leave it on. 

[Atti]

Well guys after all we have been through my girls left me! I had a feeling yesterday afternoon when I did not see any traffic at the hive door. But I deceided to just let them be. This morning again I see no activity at the new hive. I take a look, everone is gone. I see some bees by the old hive but do not hear humming, not a good sigh. I check in there and just a couple of bees. Man I am so bumbed. Well I sucked it up and went and put the empty new hive next to the old. Maybe another swarm will come back. I tried to fill the old super with some frames for the second super that came with the new hive so there would not be any empty spaces. I guess, easy come easy go.   :'( :'( :'( :'(

[Kathyp]

sounds like they were determined to go.  maybe that old hive was just a pit stop :-).  i lost the hives i dug out of a barn this winter.  a good part of the reason i lost them was my own inexperience.  the smaller part was the weather. even so, i learned a lot.  you have just learned things that we might never do or see, all in couple of days and before you were even ready to start.

you did good!  hiving your package will be a piece of cake now.

[Atti]

Well there may be some hope. I see alot of incoming traffic at the old hive. Its seeems to be too much for robbing. Maybe they are hanging on another branch somewhere in the yard, there is alot of trees here, and are just starting to come back home. Well I'll keep you guys posted.

[Atti]

Okay they are back! I have not looked into the hive but they came back. They are all going into the hive. Thanks God cause I was really sad that they had left. I guess I will give them a couple of days to settle in and then I will take a look. I think I am just going to have to get another super from the friend that gave it to me. To place on top after awhile.  They really do not like the new stuff at all. They did not like it when I put the new super on top with some brood. They did not like is when I caught them swarming and put then entirely in the new hive. That really made them upset. I did notice that they had started working on the new frames that I had placed in the old hive. Any insight!

[Kathyp]

so they moved back into the old hive? 

[Jerrymac]

Is there some oder to the new that isn't in the old. Paint? Where they were stored? Stuff like that?

[Atti]

They moved into the old hive. I am going to ask the friend that gave it to me if they use any type of attractant on the hive. the new one is well, new!! I have not even painted it. May be they used something on it that they just love. I don't know but it would be very good to find out. Well the new hive is sitting next to the old and they do not even peak in and there is a frame with stuff for the old hive that they built. I will let you guys know.

[Kathyp]

ok.  here is my take on it.  you should know that i am on the bottom of the food chain around here, but i am a priestess of KISS.  :-)

i would get some essential oil of lemmongrass.  put a little drop of it inside the new hive.  put the new hive with foundation (wax, i hope?)  under the old hive.  put syrup on.  walk away.  check again in a week or so.

or....leave them alone for a few weeks and then do above.  the goal is to get them on some new foundation that you can eventually work.  i wouldn't be in to big a rush to do that, but you do have to get started before them make a royal mess of what they are in.