First swarm, advice please?

[Davidwd]

Just been and collected first swarm, cut the branch left it in the box, left box upside down near where swarm was with a gap underneath.

How long before i should go and collect the box? I dont want them to clear off again.

Do i have to put them into a hive at least 3 miles form where i collected the swarm?

Thank you

David

 

[HollyBee]

Hi,

When we collected our swarm in a similar way after a couple of hours we had all the bees except for a couple of stragglers.

With regards to where to place them, I was on the understanding that a swarms internal compass seems to reset so they should be able to be placed in a hive within the 3 miles. I don't know this from experience as we donated our swarms but would assume that they hived them fairly near by. I am sure someone will be able to offer more accurate information soon.

 

[Beeforest]

Usually the box is removed from the site in the evening once all the flying bees have joined the swarm in the box. However i have come back to a swarm in the evening to find it empty!!! It's the risk you take. Now i remove the bees after about an hour. The swarm can then be transformed to the intended hive this does not have to be over three miles away. I prefer to run them in using a large sheet over a board sloping to the hive entrance. They seem to stay put using this method.
Best of luck

 

[Rich0909]

Not a good idea to remove a swarm during the day unless it is cold and wet - there will be hundreds of scouts and foragers out who will return to the swarm location. Especially so if in a garden or public place - sometimes there is no option but to remove them due to the location but if at all possible they should be left until evening. It is dead easy to make up a QE base for a skep / box which will keep them there - see my post http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17413

Rich

 

[HollyBee]

I should add that it was late afternoon when we collected the swarms which from the posts above probably made a difference to the timings.

 

[Davidwd]

Collected the swarm, left for an hour. A cast swarm appeared near the original so took the main swarm away, hived it in a friends field 4 miles away - all looks good.

Collected cast swarm, i will leave it on site until this evening before i remove the box, so hopefully all the stragglers will end up in there.

Went into the original hive they swarmed from, released the virgin queens and broke down all the other queen cells.

Phew!!! Now my nerves are shot to pieces!

D

 

[sherwood]

Collected the swarm, left for an hour. A cast swarm appeared near the original so took the main swarm away, hived it in a friends field 4 miles away - all looks good.

Collected cast swarm, i will leave it on site until this evening before i remove the box, so hopefully all the stragglers will end up in there.

Went into the original hive they swarmed from, released the virgin queens and broke down all the other queen cells.

Phew!!! Now my nerves are shot to pieces!

D

Unlikely to be a cast swarm more probably the scouts and foragers returning to the original site the swarm set its self in. They are sensing the residual pheramons left by the swarm. To be a cast it would have to be headed by a queen or more accurately a princess.

 

[VEG]

Removing after an hour is bad practise as you have found out you didnt collect all the bees. As said above if they are in someones garden you will leave bees there if you only leave them an hour, the bees will get very ticked off at being left behind. The last swarm I picked up I removed them at 9.30pm that way all bees were in the box and as they were on the side of a house there were no bees left to antagonise the house owners or neighbours.

 

[susbees]

Veg is spot on - no cast swarm...the queen can touch several nearby twigs/branches and residual bees will end up there. In the cold and damp they will get agitated and stingy. ALL swarms (except in say a fellow beekeeper's remote garden) should be cleared just before dusk and either the twigs removed or sprayed with cheap aftershave or similar until no bees are attracted back to them.

If in doubt always get someone with experience to help - our reputation depends on the customer not getting stung after the event. We took a colony out from under a rotten cottage windowsill last Friday (overcast) and many bees were still returning after nine including drones....

Your "cast swarm" or the main swarm is likely queenless and will abscond. As for releasing the virgin queens...you should have tried to leave one big one rather than leave them to fight it out.