Caught a cast!!

[danro]

This year I half heartedly set up a few unused supers in pairs as "bait hives" to see what would happen.

I have two on the ground, in the driveway that I can watch from the kitchen and one on top of a flat roof extension.

The flat roof extension hive now has occupants

It appears to be a small cast. Occupying an area the size of a large grapefruit.(ish)

I know that many will say "unite it" but I fancy seeing what I can do with it.
Any advise on best practice for supporting a cast swarm?

Currently, they are drawing out comb onto super foundation.
I know I'll have to get some brood box frames in very soon, but other than that any pointers would be greatly received.
They have not yet been fed so I'll plan to get some syrup to them this evening.

Or will I just be disappointed as casts always fail or something like that?

thanks

Danny

 

[george]

Dont unite , plenty of time yet to build up . Assuming there is a queen and she gets mated !
If you have some syrup handy get it on and start feeding . The sooner wax is drawn and she has somewhere to lay the better .
Transfer to a nuc or dummied down brood box to keep it as warm as possible , when moving them over as its small you should be able to find a queen if she is there , even if unmated .
Best of luck .


G

 

[jimbeekeeper]

remove excess frames to minimise their area to keep warm, feed well and maybe even add a bit of insulation as (for June) it is quite cool.

You have nothing to loose and more to gain

 

[danro]

Thanks for that - I do have a Nuc knocking about.
If I see queenie, is it worth marking her .. or waiting until she is laying?

Many thanks
Danny

 

[jimbeekeeper]

I would not go looking for her or marking her...best not to mess with them too much.

Just assume she is there, do the above recommendations, and watch the hive entrance for signs i.e pollen.

Only then when eggs seen mark her.

 

[george]

Agreed , never mark until she is laying .

G

 

[malawi2854]

Danny,

The very first swarm I caught (ever) was this year, and it was a miniscule cast - on the bottom of a trampoline, couldn't have been easier to collect.

Like you, I decided not to unite them, and decided to use it as my pet project for the year - I am determined to get them to being a productive colony - I'll feel very proud of myself if I do! And of them, of course!

This little cluster of bees was probably a bit smaller than yours, about the size of a pineapple (sticking with the exotic fruit theme!).
I assumed they wouldn't make it, as they were so small, and the weather got so much worse.

My joy was evident to all when I opened them up the weekend before last, and saw a little patch of eggs - I was over the moon! Even more over the moon this weekend, when it was all beautifully capped, and had doubled in size!

Still VERY few bees, obviously - but they're on their way!

Here's to our little cast swarms!

 

[oliver90owner]

Apart from keeping them warm, a frame with a relatively small patch of emerging brood would be the best thing for them.

Feeding is only a priority if they need it - if they are drawing comb and storing nectar, don't feed (but keep a watchful eye on stores levels). They need more bees, not acres of drawn comb filled with sugar syrup. Think - you can feed them anytime they need it, but you can't lay the eggs, feed the brood and incubate it for them, so as many bees as they can spare are required for brooding, not storing un-needed food. Once there are more bees, you can add a larger patch of emerging brood to accelerate them on their way and the job will nearly be done. A frame with stores of honey and pollen would be better than sugar syrup. Good luck.

Regards, RAB

 

[danro]

Great news on your collection Malawi. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

My Ted Hooper book on bees led me to believe is was a wasted cause, his advice is unite them and be done with it - almost as if it were a minor irritation.

But I thought, the bees in the wild MUST survive in small casts or they would not do it.

Thanks for all the great advice, I'll be watching them very carefully as they are at home - but I'll not disturb them too much (I'll get them in to the nuc first.)

RAB You have a great way of looking at it - makes complete sense. I'll see what I can gather from the other hives.

Danny

 

[sawdstmakr]

I talked to my father in law, who is in Pennsylvania, last night. His neighbor is a nwebee and had a hive swarm. She asked him what to do with a swarm that was at the top of a 50 year Toby tree, 70 foot tall. He said there was nothing they could do. They were keeping an eye on it and the next day it flew down and headed towards his garage where he keeps his beekeeping equipment. He stood in front of the open garage door with thousands of bees swarming around him. They went into a deep brood box that had 2 drawn frames and the rest were frames with foundation. After they all went into the box, he put on a bottom and top board and picked it up and took it to his neighbors house, their back yards are connected, and placed it right next to the original hive. I wish I was that lucky. My first and only swarm just disappeared.
Jim

 

[victor meldrew]

Agreed , never mark until she is laying .

G

Why ever not?
Commercial bee breeders do it all the time

John Wilkinson

 

[danro]

I had a peek at the cast over the weekend.
They seem to be doing OK.
There is brood and eggs and stores so things look OK

They have been given reduced space with the insertion of dummy boards and a feeder on the top, as the last few weeks have been pretty wet.
I've not added any emerging brood as the other hives I have are with a syndicate (3 of us) and it seem like stealing..
The other hive are in an apiary 1.5 miles away.
The cast is on my flat roof extension at home
I want to keep them very separate

So all is looking good!!