Blind leading the blind

[hornett]

Hi i am a new beek, got a call yesterday from a friend who is also a new beekeeper that her bees where swarming. went round to her house and they were all over the hive and milling around then i spotted the queen on a post, caught her and put her in another hive close by with the QE on the bottom to keep her in , scooped up loads of beed an put them in the hive also.
Question: Was this the right thing todo and if so how long to leave the QE on the bottom.

Many thanks

Buzz

 

[rae]

Perfectly good, well done for spotting the queen.

Putting the QX on the bottom will help - but if she has been thinned down for flying, she might wriggle through. It is a good idea to get a frame of brood out of the original hive, get all of the bees off it and give it to the "swarm" hive - they are very unlikely to leave brood. Make sure it doesn't have queen cells on it!

Ideally you get the queen and a good chunk of the bees into the target hive, then position it so that the rest of them can "walk up" a sheet or plank into the box - it is a lovely thing to see.

I would put the "swarmed" bees on the original site, and the "remaining" bees to one side, just like an AS. That way, any lost flying bees will find their way home, and the flying bees from the "remaining" hive will end up in the original box. Then do the usual AS moves afterwards.

Leave the QX on for a few days - inspect, and if they drawaing comb/laying eggs, they have moved in.

 

[hornett]

Up date, just had a phone from my friend to say that they had gone, so you were right Rae HM has escaped.