Welcome, Guest
Login or Register
Home
« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Hiving a swarm  (Read 3091 times)

Offline twintrades

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 155
  • Gender: Male
Hiving a swarm
« on: July 23, 2011, 02:01:15 am »
When hiving a new swarm should i screen off the entrance for a day or two ? It will be a new box/frames/foundation ect

Or should i be good to just hive them and let them do as they wish ? No reducer ?
Logged

Offline BlevinsBees

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 144
  • Gender: Male
    • Habitat for Honeybees
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2011, 04:27:14 am »
Don't block the entrance. They need to get oriented and start foraging. Place a frame of brood and another frame of honey in your new box to get them started and reduce the chances of them absconding.
Logged
President, San Francisco Beekeepers Association
habitatforhoneybees.com

Offline VolunteerK9

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1647
  • Gender: Male
  • Gamecock fan in UT land.
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2011, 02:14:07 pm »
I would keep the queen locked up in a queen catcher for a day or two to deter absconding and/or use a frame of brood mentioned above.
Logged

Offline L Daxon

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 681
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2011, 02:27:38 pm »
If you don't have a queen catcher or aren't good at finding the queen, you can put a queen excluder between the bottom board and brood nest for a few days to keep the queen from leaving.  You can take the queen excluder after a few days, after the girls have gotten used to the new box.

Adding a frame of brood and/or honey stores, if you have other hives you can take them from, is also very helpful way to make the swarm want to stay in its new digs.
Logged
linda d

Offline Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 20527
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2011, 02:35:28 pm »
the excluder under the bottom box is the easiest.  i'd keep the entrance reduced to some extent for a few days but not closed.  the frame of brood and/or honey is a good way to go.
Logged
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline twintrades

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 155
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2011, 02:52:29 pm »
Due to the weather  and the fact that i didnt have a excluder i dumped them in and just hoping for the best. its raining now. So they should hold tight this weekend.
Logged

Offline Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 20527
  • Gender: Female
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2011, 03:19:39 pm »
if they stay, leave them alone for a week and then check for a queen.  if you don't see signs of one put a frame of eggs in there.  if it's raining and you don't think they are going to be able to forage, you'll want to think about feeding them.
Logged
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline twintrades

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 155
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #7 on: July 23, 2011, 05:50:08 pm »
I gave them a 1:1 sugar water when I hived them.
Logged

Offline kedgel

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 192
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2011, 11:03:34 pm »
I've had mixed results using a queen excluder as an "includer".  When they swarm, the queen is slimmed down for flight and can sometimes get through the excluder!  A queen cage or a queen catcher with SMALL slots is a safer bet.
Logged
Talent is a dull blade that cuts nothing unless wielded with great force--Pat Travers

Offline twintrades

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 155
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2011, 11:23:35 pm »
Went out to give them more feed. And they were for the most part inside !!  :-D

I shure hope they stay. I mean they were living on a fence post for 2 dyas. This hive has got to look better ! The Buck wheat and other flowers are about to bloom all around them. Aprox 1 acer worth and there located directly across from a nurcery farm with tons of flowers ! What better could they want ?
Logged

Offline BlevinsBees

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 144
  • Gender: Male
    • Habitat for Honeybees
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #10 on: July 26, 2011, 12:08:50 am »
I have never had a swarm abscond when I put a frame of brood and honey in the box. They don't leave what they think are their babies.  :delivery:
Logged
President, San Francisco Beekeepers Association
habitatforhoneybees.com

Offline twintrades

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 155
  • Gender: Male
Re: Hiving a swarm
« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2011, 12:29:16 am »
Wish I could just buy one frame of each it would make things easyr.
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »