Author Topic: First post...wild swarm (Read 3847 times)

OregonBee · « **on:** June 10, 2005, 03:09:56 am »

Hi y'all,
this is my first post to this site, although I visited the beemaster webpage a few years back when I first got into the beekeeping thing.
As a backgrounder, I've pretty much gone this thing alone, got a few packages of nice golden Italians and have had a good crop from time to time. Managing "swarming" has been difficult, and this year I decided to not even mess with my hives, but to just place brood boxes with drawn frames around the property to hopefully catch any swarms. Well, low and behold, I did catch a swarm, only it does not appear to be from my bees, but instead from a very dark (almost black) bee....reminiscent of some feral bees I caught when I was a kid. My first thoughts were, "cool, my hive didn't swarm" and "cool, these bees may be mite resistant". Okay, now I'm open to suggestions....I assume I should first treat them, but then, should I requeen, or keep the dark (and different) bees, bless them with holy water, all of the above????
Reminder: any advice is news to me.
Thanks,
Your Oregon Beeman

TwT · « **Reply #1 on:** June 10, 2005, 03:26:15 am »

welcome to the site, if it were me I wouldn't requeen them, they are alive for some reason, they might have good mite resistant traits, why would you want to lose that, just watch and enjoy them. and congrads on the swarm catching

Finsky · « **Reply #2 on:** June 10, 2005, 03:33:20 am »

If you have need of mite handling, you can pour oxalic acid liquid on swarm bees. It destroyes very well varroa.

If you have drone larvas in your other hives, you can take piece combs and catch mites in them. When swarm has no larvas, mites go into moved larvas which are near by capping. Also you can use proper worker larvas in catching free mites.

Also when swarm has went, and original hive has no larvas, it is easy to catch mites with dnonelarvas or worker larvas.

Dutch have developed good procedure for that. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jtemp/dronemethod.html

Finsky · « **Reply #3 on:** June 10, 2005, 03:49:35 am »

Quote from: TwT

they are alive for some reason, they might have good mite resistant traits, :

It is impossible to know if swarm is from somebody's hive or natural origin. Escaped swarms are much in moving.

TwT · « **Reply #4 on:** June 10, 2005, 09:08:20 am »

understand finsky but your right, odds are that they are from someone else's hive, thing im saying is what if they are not from someone elses hive and are from a long time feral hive, there might be a few survivers left out there somewhere, wouldnt be too smart to kill the queen and not have tried her yet, just my opinion. but guest it doesn't matter, if he wants to requeen the hive with a queen he wants then thats what he should do. I would atlest try the queen out to see what I found or found me.

Miss Chick-a-BEE · « **Reply #5 on:** June 10, 2005, 09:20:38 am »

And I personally wouldn't medicate unless I saw a problem. By medicating when they don't have many mites, I've read that you could actually help the mites become resistant to the medication.

Beth

Finsky · « **Reply #6 on:** June 10, 2005, 09:33:19 am »

Quote from: Miss Chick-a-BEE

And I personally wouldn't medicate unless I saw a problem. By medicating when they don't have many mites, I've read that you could actually help the mites become resistant to the medication.

Beth

I have in every hive mites. Last autumn they were quite evenly delivered when I gived oxalic liquid.

I think that mites is good to kill before they are many. I do not care information, are they 100 or 1000. Surely they are there.

I had fluvinate resistant mites. Now I use another drug. I bought mite killing bees, but they did not killed.

To me, varroa is not a philosophy. It is an enemy. I cannot kill them but I keep them in low level. And I do not believe that I have opportunity to find a mite resistant bee. I do not waste time with that idea.

I have studied in university biology and genetics. I have basic knowledge.

And feral bees, I have had those enough. Awfull. :P

Michael Bush · « **Reply #7 on:** June 10, 2005, 11:40:06 am »

>It is impossible to know if swarm is from somebody's hive or natural origin. Escaped swarms are much in moving.

A bee raised on fully regressed natural sized cell is 3mm shorter than one raised on "standard" 5.4mm cells. They are enough smaller to tell just by looking.

So unlesss someone is rasing bees on small cell nearby, it's obvious.

OregonBee · « **Reply #8 on:** June 10, 2005, 10:17:42 pm »

Hi all,
thanks for the advice, speculation and support. A couple of observations: while there are other beekeepers in the area, and I have not inspected there bees, the bees which have arrived by swarm ARE visibly smaller and darker than my nearby golden Italians. It seems like I should just keep them as "wild" and see if they're manageable. I'd eventually like to move them over by my other hive (out of the weather), but suppose this could wait till Fall. Is there anyway I can get around making two moves. Currently I'm of the understanding that they can be moved six feet or two miles. The location I want to move them to is only 150 yards away. Incidentally, I guess I'm not too worried about introducing mites to my other hive, 'cause it seems they already have them. Just keep the numbers down with apistan.
Grato,
Your Oregon Beeman

Jerrymac · « **Reply #9 on:** June 10, 2005, 11:20:41 pm »

What leads you to believe the wild ones have mites? I started with and now have ferel bees. Some of them have been five or more years on their own. I have found no sign of mites. I let them draw their own comb from starter strips of small cell fooundation and do not intend to poke meds into the hives. They did fine on their on why should I change their ways?

ciely1 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 11, 2005, 10:55:05 pm »

I have been told to take powder sugar and a jar with screen that doesent have to large of holes for the bees to get out and take a hand full of bees and shake them and the mites will fall off in the powder. take a caning jar and cut the screen so it fits in the lid with out the seal. couild work i havent tryed it.
Craig

Michael Bush · « **Reply #11 on:** June 12, 2005, 02:32:36 pm »

A lot of peole go to a lot of work to get their bees back to natural size. I'd put them on 4.9mm foundation or some foundationless frames so they can build their own. Otherwise, on unnaturally enalreged foundation (standard 5.4mm brood foundation) they will probably crash. On the 4.9mm they will probably do just fine with no treatments at all.