Feeding my swarm

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Griffo

House Bee
Joined
Jun 15, 2013
Messages
213
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8
Location
Mold
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
4
The nuc which I acquired back in May swarmed on Sunday and I was lucky enough to witness the event. I was surprised that they did it because they had not quite filled up the brood box they were in, and as a result I had not done a full inspection for a week or two. Anyway, they gathered in a very handy birch tree near the hive and I was able to easily gather them up and get them housed in a new brood box at the other end of the plot, about 50 metres away.
So what I would like some advice on, is how much syrup should I give them. I have so far fed them with 1kg of sugar in a weak solution in a contact feeder. They took this down very quickly. Should I carry on ?
 
The nuc which I acquired back in May swarmed on Sunday (12th July?) ...

... how much syrup should I give them. I have so far fed them with 1kg of sugar in a weak solution in a contact feeder. They took this down very quickly. Should I carry on ?
Check the situation in the box.

Assuming this is a prime swarm, with your old (mated and laying) queen, she should already be laying. Check for eggs and space.

It's a fine balance between encouraging them to draw comb, ensuring the queen has somewhere to lay, and making sure they don't fill all new comb with stores. The amount you've given them should be enough to have got them started, and if this was a swarm in my apiary I would them to it now - there's still plenty of nectar available.

You need to forward plan now, to make sure you have two colonies capable of overwintering. The colony that swarmed will have a new queen, it will be weeks before there are any new foragers.
 

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