found swarm

[village girl]

hello i,m hoping someone can advise me, today i helped collect a swarm from a nerby field. first time for me and the gentalman i was helping, we droped the swarm into a brood box, and off he went with the swarm and i think the queen, I feel he should of left the brood box on the flore and aloud more of the bees to enter, but no he left quite alot behind. Later when i went to look at swarm site, lots of very angry bees, so i left well alone. at about 8pm i noticed all the bees in a cluster on a branch, i collected them and put them in a box just icase he missed the queen (and they were getting cold bless them) my question is. is thear a chance i have the queen ? and if i do or dont have her, what do i do next ? oh they are in a cardbord box in my shed for tonight,

 

[Outlander]

Did you have any help with the smaller cluster or did you do it all alone.

 

[Frisbee]

Hi
He should have left the brood box there to gather up the stragglers, but sometimes it's not possible to do what ought to be done, maybe he wasn't able to get back. I've collected a swarm today, I dropped it into a box and then left them alone while the bees in the box fanned and encouraged the outside ones to come over, then I went back at 9.30 and collected them all up. There were still a few in the tree, but they will disperse in a day or so.

You sound as if you know a bit about beekeeping? To be fair it's unlikely that you have the queen, not impossible though. What to do with them depends on how many there are. What size was the cluster on the branch you collected? Do you know any beekeepers? If you do you could take them and see if they will house them for you, they will probably shake them out in front of a hive and they will go in. If you don't know any beekeepers it might be best to take the box back to where you found them, if the queen has been collected they will hang around the branch for a while, but bees are attracted to other bees and if they haven't a queen then they will probably drift back to the colony they originally came from, or they'll find another colony nearby. They would have kept themselves warm overnight, that's why they were clustering.

Take care when you move them though as bees can get out of tiny holes, if they haven't a queen they might be a bit fed up and you might get stung. Cover the box with a sheet or something. If it all gets out of hand and they are getting out of the box, just leave them alone, they will find their own way to other bees.

Frisbee

 

[Mike a]

See my reply on the other thread.

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=239582&postcount=2

 

[village girl]

Outlander i had help and advice from another novice like me was just asking for more advice as you can never know too much

 

[village girl]

thear is a hole in the box so they can leave if they want, i felt a bit responsable for them as i had been involved in them being split from thear swarm earlier, i am lerning, so know some stuff but loads of stuff i am yet to discover, i will try and borrow a nuce tomorow and see what happens, thank you for your help

 

[village girl]

Did you have any help with the smaller cluster or did you do it all alone.

thank you outlander for your help

 

[susbees]

The remaining bees may cluster without a queen if any bit of bush the queen has touched remains or the scent is not masked with a spray before removing from site.

Depends on where the swarm is whether taking the swarm before sunset is responsible or not. I took a cast swarm from a garden hedge on Sunday...directly adjacent to a tarmac track leading to several houses. In the warm weather it would have been irresponsible to leave early as the remaining bees can get upset and could easily have entered cars through open windows.

Dropping a swarm into a box and leaving all the scouts and foragers behind is NOT acceptable wherever it is!

 

[parkranger]

Hi

where "North of Norwich" are you?

I'm likely in the same area and if I can help, let me know

 

[enrico]

If you can blag a hive or a nuc box and a frame of brood and eggs they may make another queen and hey presto you will have your own bees!!! A good way to get started.
E

 

[REDWOOD]

If you can blag a hive or a nuc box and a frame of brood and eggs they may make another queen and hey presto you will have your own bees!!! A good way to get started.
E

freebees

 

[village girl]

hi thankyou all for your surgestions the bees left sometime today i was told they would probably return home or join another hive, have now got a swarm box so will be reddy for the next one hopefully , but it was a good experiance to handle and be involved in caching a swarm, i will continue to read listen and lern

 

[Mike a]

hi thankyou all for your surgestions the bees left sometime today i was told they would probably return home or join another hive.

Unlikely, but it if makes the collector feel happy as he couldn't be bothered to do a proper job then fair enough I guess.

 

[Beeforest]

I collected a cast swarm yesterday evening. Shook the majority of the bees into nuc and waited for the flying bees to enter. After 20 mins a small cluster developed on the branch where the swarm had resided. I saw a large bee joining this cluster and presumed it was a drone. On closer inspection it was the virgin queen heading the swarm!! If I had taken the swarm away too early I would have left the queen behind.
Beekeeping is a hobby for the patient.

 

[susbees]

Unlikely, but it if makes the collector feel happy as he couldn't be bothered to do a proper job then fair enough I guess.

Evidence? One way or the other?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[oliver90owner]

Evidence? One way or the other?


Euphoric state of the swarm collector? Not known, I would think, and maybe couldn't care less or perhaps know any better.

If you are referring to the 'unlikely', those bees will likely hang around for days, is my experience.

 

[newportbuzz]

something worth mentioning is the good chance of a cast soon. the prime swarm leaves on or about the first cell capping the cast leaves with the first virgin.
keep your eyes peeled for the next week or two and you might get hold of a cast and 1-2 weeks is a reasonable timescale to get hold of a nuc box to house them in and become a beekeeper.

 

[village girl]

thank you i dident know about a cast , i have sorted a nuke, and will be keeping my eyes open, and i will wait till dusk for them all to return if at all humanly possable