Is it safe...

[Stone]

to combine a swarm into an established colony at this time of year?  Well, possibly not really a swarm.

I just got a call about a swarm that settled inside the wall of barn.  According to this very nice woman, she witnessed the swarm settle on the wall of the barn and a few days later, they set up house, flying in and out.  This all happened about ten days ago. She'd like them removed.  I'm going to take a look today. 

My thinking is this: If this is a newly established colony, there is not much chance of them building up in time and surviving the winter. My question is this: Would it be wise to extract them and just combine them with one of mine?  Of course, the woman may be completely wrong and the bees may have been there for quite some time.  But if the facts are accurate, this is the choice as I see it: If I leave them, they die.  If I take them out, they have a chance.

What are your thoughts?

[T Beek]

I have a similar issue w/ a swarm caught about 10 days ago.  I'm giving it until the end of the month.  So far, I've taken two frames of brood from a strong colony and have been feeding them like crazy.  Yesterday I saw that the queen was laying eggs so am cautiously optimistic.  However, they may still get combined by months end if they're struggling.....or I may try to nurse them through Winter as a NUC.

thomas

[JP]

This is yet another example where nucs play that oh so important role! I'm with Thomas.


...JP

[VolunteerK9]

This will be my first attempt at trying to overwinter a few nucs-others have done it quite successfully. I think the key would be to wait and find how many bees you get from the cutout and make your determination from there. My key factors would be how much food stores as well as capped brood that they have.