Bees swarming....urgent advice please!

[beeno]

For next time, and a little light reading, google "B8KA collecting swarm" and read the pdf.

I always return to remove the collected swarm from the site just before dusk, I never remove the box during the day unless it's raining because there will always be scouts and foragers returning to the swarm's temporary site and it's a waste to leave them to die on their own.

Yep, you follow the correct swarm procedure. However, any returning foragers to the swarm site will return to the original colony where they swarmed from in a day or two. In the meantime they could be an aggressive nuisance to the public though, so correct swarm collection procedure should always be followed.

 

[Finman]

Yep, you follow the correct swarm procedure. .

I have never seen such procedure.
.

 

[pargyle]

I have never seen such procedure.
.

Best read Post #13 on this thread then ....

 

[Finman]

Best read Post #13 on this thread then ....

I have had my procedure 54 years. Drop the swarm in front of foundation hive and bees go in.

Best procedure has been a case, when the swarm was 15 m high in pine canopy. It took 3 days that I got all bees and queen off from tree. And many other memorable events.

Yes. Many innovative variations in the procedure.

 

[Vortex]

Yep, you follow the correct swarm procedure. However, any returning foragers to the swarm site will return to the original colony where they swarmed from in a day or two. In the meantime they could be an aggressive nuisance to the public though, so correct swarm collection procedure should always be followed.

Like everything the procedure is all well and good in an ideal world .. unfortunately we don't live in one. Given I work full time I don't get to deal with swarms in the week till the evening .. assuming they haven't absconded by then .. and if they're likely to be a major public nuisance I refer the cller to the next collector on the list.
However, at weekends I deal with them as I get them, and in some places, like LEGOLAND(TM), leaving a swarm box with a swarm in it and coming back later isn't practical.
Late last season I learnt a useful trick from an experienced swarm collector. carry Neutradol, Faust, or similar non-scented scent neutralizer with you.
Drop the swarm into the box and heavily dose the site where they resided and the immediate vicinity with the neutralizer.
Might take a couple of dosings but they'll all go down to the box within 30 minutes. This just leaves any scouts which are out and about but that is nothing different than the swarm moving before all scouts return.

 

[Finman]

.
Putting swarm into a hive is not worth of drama. Very simple.

Many beekeepers let their hives to swarm without tears. They do not even inspect them weekly.

 

[Etton]

And even more puzzlement! I was a one hive owner hive and did the Pagden last Thursday (7 days ago) and as said in this thread I found a swarm on Monday which I made a mess of collecting by immediately moving them to an open brood box in a new location ( then went looking for brood frames to put in) and when came back they had fled. Lessons learnt!
I looked into the two hives today, the single QC still there and capped but I then in the original box saw my queen. So how come they swarmed without a queen? Am sure it's not someone else's swarm....would another's swarm be attracted to another apiary?

 

[Finman]

.
Swarm is easy to run away, when you disturbe it. Spray lots of water on the swarm makes it easier to catch the swarm into the box.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Am sure it's not someone else's swarm....would another's swarm be attracted to another apiary?

How do you know?
Did you look in your boxes after you found the swarm?
Last year I inspected five colonies on one day and the next day found a huge prime swarm hanging nicely from a tree three feet in front of one of the hives.
I hived them then went through all my boxes.....all queens present!

 

[beeno]

And even more puzzlement! I was a one hive owner hive and did the Pagden last Thursday (7 days ago) and as said in this thread I found a swarm on Monday which I made a mess of collecting by immediately moving them to an open brood box in a new location ( then went looking for brood frames to put in) and when came back they had fled. Lessons learnt!
I looked into the two hives today, the single QC still there and capped but I then in the original box saw my queen. So how come they swarmed without a queen? Am sure it's not someone else's swarm....would another's swarm be attracted to another apiary?

Hi Etton,
It makes sense to me that the queen never went into the Pagden AS for whatever reason, as it explains her Houdini escapes! It could be that the bees absconded due to too much disturbance and non-viable queen cells. I do not believe that they would let the queen back into parent hive, but the bees might beg their way in.
Sorry, to tell you this Etton, but you need to consider QCs in the parent hive? Just have a stiff drink tonight and think about how much you have learnt in such a short space of time. This is beekeeping for you.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Late last season I learnt a useful trick from an experienced swarm collector. carry Neutradol, Faust, or similar non-scented scent neutralizer with you.
Drop the swarm into the box and heavily dose the site where they resided and the immediate vicinity with the neutralizer.
Might take a couple of dosings but they'll all go down to the box within 30 minutes. This just leaves any scouts which are out and about but that is nothing different than the swarm moving before all scouts return.

Bee Quick works too, and will get them into the box quickly, but it doesn't touch the scout bees and they will return to the swarm's resting site later in the day.

I have never seen scout bees returning to a resting site when a swarm has moved on on its own.