First swarm

[Gower]

Lat night my friend and I had a call to collect a swarm. When we arrived it wasnt quite as straight forward as anticipated - we could reach most of the bees without the need of ladders, but they were wrapped around the whole of the tree trunk (not a rugby ball shape hanging on a branch, which we had hoped for). Still, after about an hour of gentle encouragement with a bee brush we managed to get them boxed and the majority of the stragglers followed in shortly after. happy days!

 

[oliver90owner]

Wow. Pics can be misleading but that looks like one very good prime swarm!

You may know - get the queen and the rest will follow.

That is what I would be doing with that. Hunt the queen.

As soon as she is in the box, you are more than half way there.

Easier said than done, I know, but worth the initial effort before starting wholesale sweeping.

Well done, all the same.

Regards, RAB

 

[MrB]

As RAB said. Wow.
What a catch !!

 

[zng109]

quite impressive.
Mine was a fraction of the size, stuck to the back of a small 4 course wall under a fir "shrub" rather an awkward place to get too

 

[Luminos]

Someone will surely be missing that lot this morning?!

 

[TJSnapper]

Great catch, mine was nowhere near that big... as Luminos said, someone will be missing them..

 

[Vergilius]

That is one very large swarm!!!


Ben P

 

[Gower]

thanks all. I'm not sure if there are any beeks in the locality, as I picked the swarm up in the midle of a residential estate about 6 miles from where i live.

thanks for the tip Rab - next time i'll spend some time trying to find the Q first and securing her in the box to encourage the others, although with that quantity of bees and my eyesight I would probably still be there this morning!

 

[biglongdarren]

that makes my swarm look pityful;o)....well done and enjoy!

 

[Steve Dyer]

snip...
thanks for the tip Rab - next time i'll spend some time trying to find the Q first and securing her in the box to encourage the others, although with that quantity of bees and my eyesight I would probably still be there this morning!

There is a catch, and that is there are often two or more queens, especially in a swarm that size, and catching just one of them gives you two swarms to deal with, and you never know which way they will go.

 

[Gower]

There is a catch, and that is there are often two or more queens, especially in a swarm that size, and catching just one of them gives you two swarms to deal with, and you never know which way they will go.

so having hived the swarm, there's now a risk that a second queen if present will swarm again then?....

 

[drstitson]

rather than messing with bee brush for half and hour i'd've taken a piece of cloth or rope, wrapped it loosely around top of trunk and then drawn it downwards slowly towards waiting box/assistant ready to scoop up the bees. (and yes i know it would take two goes due to the branch midway).

 

[BBG]

so having hived the swarm, there's now a risk that a second queen if present will swarm again then?....

I had a swarm with 4/5 Qs, whittled down, gave one away, one died, ?, then when installed in nuc I could hear quarking suggesting two Qs?

I would say yes as that is what I think happened to the chalk brooder's returned swarm. Box was definitely lighter after I was told it was thought it was them that swarmed.

BUT

was told yesterday by a beekeeper with 50 years experience that was impossible.

V interested to see if you think yours do the impossible too!

 

[Gower]

BBG,

I will update further when checked. Will be visiting the hive this evening as the swarm was too big for a nuc box so i installed them straight into a standard national - i need to add more frames/ foundation later for them to get cracking with.

 

[Gower]

Bees at the bottom of the garden; Allan Compton - states that hiving a swarm which is not from your own his is best to avoid, due to possibility of disease, second class queens etc. Have i done the right thing, especially with the size of the swarm? does the acquisition of a new colony outweigh the risks? many thanks for any advice!

 

[oliver90owner]

If it is a prime swarm, there will only be one queen.

RAB

 

[Steve Dyer]

so having hived the swarm, there's now a risk that a second queen if present will swarm again then?....

Well, with bees anything could happen, but with luck one will be killed off if both in a hive.

What I was referring to is that if you examine the swarm for a queen, a very difficult task, and you find one and put her in a box with some of the swarm then if there is only one queen the remaining bees will enter the box. If however there is a second queen left with the ones on the trunk then almost anything can happen - and probably will

 

[Gower]

I had a swarm with 4/5 Qs, whittled down, gave one away, one died, ?, then when installed in nuc I could hear quarking suggesting two Qs?

I would say yes as that is what I think happened to the chalk brooder's returned swarm. Box was definitely lighter after I was told it was thought it was them that swarmed.

BUT

was told yesterday by a beekeeper with 50 years experience that was impossible.

V interested to see if you think yours do the impossible too!

a week later i checked the hive, having put a super on. the bb is full with bees accross all frames and they have started drawing foundation in the super. no sign of any eggs/ larvae as yet but am keeping fingers crossed!!

 

[rae]

Bees at the bottom of the garden; Allan Compton - states that hiving a swarm which is not from your own his is best to avoid, due to possibility of disease, second class queens etc. Have i done the right thing, especially with the size of the swarm? does the acquisition of a new colony outweigh the risks? many thanks for any advice!

I don't understand this advice. A hive that swarms is generally healthy, or it wouldn't have built up to to size where it could swarm. So in all probability, your swarm will be healthy. That said, we've put our collected swarm at the other end of the field, just in case.

The queen may well be rubbish, but you can sort that later. Even if she is rubbish, you've just acquired a workforce that is productive and enthusiastic. You can merge them with a weaker colony, or you can re-queen to build a new colony.

Unless a swarm is weedy and time consuming, I struggle to see the downside.

 

[chickendave]

I don't understand this advice. A hive that swarms is generally healthy, or it wouldn't have built up to to size where it could swarm. So in all probability, your swarm will be healthy. That said, we've put our collected swarm at the other end of the field, just in case.

The queen may well be rubbish, but you can sort that later. Even if she is rubbish, you've just acquired a workforce that is productive and enthusiastic. You can merge them with a weaker colony, or you can re-queen to build a new colony.

Unless a swarm is weedy and time consuming, I struggle to see the downside.

This is how I started beekeeping by collecting a swarm and the majority of the new members at our local branch