Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: sevcom on October 30, 2006, 05:21:14 am
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my bees swarmed and i was able to boxed them but after few days ( about 5 days) they left the box. i dont understand why they left when they already started building nice combs on the frames.
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Where are you located? It's late for swarms here in North America, but not unheard of. The first question is why they swarmed. I assume you harvested and crowded them down, or you live somewhere else where it's "spring" now.
Why do swarms abscond? Who knows. Sometimes you didn't get the queen. Sometimes they just decided they didn't like the accomadations. I like a few drops of Lemongrass essential oil in the box to anchor them there better. Some open brood (which is not available here right now) is also helpful to anchor them to the box.
If you're resonably sure you have a mated queen (based on her size or her being marked) you can put an excluder on as an includer for a week or so, so the queen can't leave and that tends to anchor them.
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Thnks Michael for answering my question and your advise. i'll do your advise next time. btw, im from the philippines and base on my research bees start to swarm late oct here.
Now I think they absconded because of my improper accomodation. i put them in a box without rainproof (cover is plain wood) and it rains here for two days before they absconded. thnks again.
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Another method for helping the bees like the accomidations is to lightly shinge the inner surfaces of the boxes with flame. For some reason newly made bare interiors just don't always feel homey. When I've used shinged boxes I've never had a swarm abscond--can't say the same for new boxes. Of course the best box to use is an old well worn super with drawn comb but we don't always have that laying around.
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Thanks Brian.
I used a new box and new frames. here the picture.
(http://www.geocities.com/marcibang/bee1.jpg)
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It looks like you need a comb guide in the middle of the top bar...
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Barewired frames will do it every time.
It would have been best to have left the frames wire free. The bees don't like the wire and if it's exposed won't build comb there even on foundation. That's why proper embedding is so essential.
The best solution is to use starter strips (cut medium brood in 1-1 1/2 inch widths and put in the frames, no wire. The bees will draw the comb faster than they will on foundation and once its aged a season,will be just as sturdy as wired foundation when extracting.
No foundation=no wire. The bees will draw their own comb as long as there's no wire to interfere.
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I can't tell if it's wired or if those are lines that are just a glitch in the picture. I don't wire my foundationless frames and I always use a comb guide unless it's in the brood nest between two drawn combs.
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Looks more like nylon fishing line than wire.....
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I thought wired frames are better :'(. thanks again for the info.
btw, those were nylons.
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I'm not saying wired is good or bad. Wire (or fishing line) provides some support. But you need a comb guide to get the comb in the middle of the frame so the comb will be centered on the wire. It's also helpful with foundationless to run vertical wires instead of horizontal so they will follow the wire down instead of meeting it as an obstruction when they get to it.
I just don't bother with the wire. You DO have to handle combs carefully until they are well attached on the sides and you can't extract until they are partially attached on all four sides.