Advice/Reassurance

[Rachelw]

It is my second year of beekeeping and until now have no experience of swarm collection.

Last week (23rd May) I was sitting in my conservatory when a swarm appeared in my garden!!! Nearly chocking on my cup of tea I dashed to the garage to get my beekkeepping gear, by which time they had flown into the next door garden.

I gave chase and managed to entice them into a hive with new foundation. Not having experience of swarms I am not sure how to describe the size, but I would have thought it was fairly small. I then took them back to my garden and feeling very proud of myself retired inside to research my books and the internet for what to do next.

As the weather since then has been a bit foul and wet i fed them 1:1 sugar solution but otherwise left them to settle down. Today (4th June) has been the first day the weather has been anything like so have just had my first proper look at them.

Bees bringing in lots of pollen
1 Frame with larvae and eggs on both sides - none sealed
1 Frame with larvae and eggs on one side - none sealed
1 Frame with a few eggs in small area
Don't think I saw the queen - however there was one bee who slightly larger than the rest but only a tiny bit - not sure if this was HM
The bees were very calm and well behaved
I only found 1 varroa mite on the paper on the hive floor

My questions are:-

1 - Does the above sound like what to expect?
2 - Does it matter that I couldn't find the queen?
3 - My other 2 hives are in a field about 2 miles away. Ideally I would like to take the swarm and put it with them. Do I have to wait for winter to do this?

Thank you for any advice

Rachel

 

[Skyhook]

Sounds like a good start . Youve done the tricky bit, which is to get them to accept their new home. It's often considered a good idea not too feed them for a day or two, to make them use their reserves building wax- if there was any infection in their old hive it could be present in the honey they carry, in which case better for them to metabolise into wax than to feed it to brood- but this is not a biggy.

Don't worry that you haven't seen the queen- if there are eggs it's 99.9% certain that she's there.

 

[sherwood]

Yes it is what you would expect, though from what you say a rather small swarm. It was either a swarm led by an old queen or a caste led by a virgin who has since mated. The eggs are the giveaway here. If it is led by an older Q it is possible that she was replaced because she was not what she once was and it is possible that they may choose to replace her by creating QC's.

Popular teaching is that if it is not your own swarm that you should not feed for three days after arrival, this gives the bees time to use up all on board stores and hopefully any pathogens.

I should wait till you have been able to examine both sealed and unsealed brood before considering moving and now is the ideal time to treat for varoa before any cells are sealed.

 

[enrico]

Well done Rachel, a credit to all those who are waiting to home their first swarms.....10/10
E

 

[Rachelw]

Update

Thank you for the replies, very reassuring .

I have just had another look at them this morning and there is now sealed brood on both sides of 4 frames and eggs and larvae in different stages of development on 4 more.

I gave them a dose of Dany's BienenWohl® last week (a mixture of Oxalic acid, citric acid, propolis, alcohols and essential oils). Has anyone used this and is it good? Last week I only found 1 varroa mite and it was alive. Today (7 days later) there were around 40 - but I didn't see any moving. Does this mean the treatment has worked? Should I treat them again?

I still haven't seen the queen - but she must be there as there were plenty of eggs.

BTW this forum is a wonderful source of information for novices like me - thank you to all you experienced beeks for sharing your knowledge - it is much appreciated!

Rachel