How to get a swarm to stay in the box

[Salamagundy]

All advice welcomed on the following:

In my third year. This is my fourth swarm. All the others have behaved as expected.

The hive swarmed on Saturday. I retrieved them and put them in a new box with foundation.

As I had run out of queen excluders (it's been manic here during the fine weather and I'm struggling to keep up - so different from last year) I made an entrance block with the same sized slot as a queen excluder.

The bees have swarmed again five times since then and returned each time, most recently ten minutes ago. They're going back in as I type this.

When the box is empty I can clearly see the queen being bossed around by half a dozen attendants.

I plan to put in a frame of BIAS and a frame of stores this afternoon to try and convince them to stay. Is this a sensible idea?

What else, if anything, should I do? What, in your experience, is the likely outcome?

Many thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[Heather]

Yes,add a bee free frame of brood from another hive to the swarm colony. They usually stay.

 

[enrico]

But be careful when you open the roof as the queen may just fly out!

 

[dickndoris]

Put in a frame of drawn foundation. Gives HM something to hold. You say new box? In my limited experience, the swarms I put in new boxes rarely stay, they much prefer used boxes. Always in a used box, 1 frame of drawn, keep them in that for 3-4 days then transfer into the new box.

 

[madasafish]

Too hot. Too small an entrance
New box = wrong smell

 

[mbc]

Shift them a few miles away until they have brood and they should then "stick" when you bring them home.

 

[itma]

Yes give them brood (ideally some open brood), yes give them a bit of drawn comb, yes don't use a new box.

No - don't give them stores. Give them a frame of brood with the least possible amount of stores.
Giving them stores allows them to reload, and thus refuel for their next attempt to strike out for pastures new.
After a couple of days, give them thin syrup,

I'd suggest shading the hive in this heat.
But putting in the varroa inspection board should make the hive darker, and thus more initially attractive.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Was it a cast swarm? If so, it could have been mating flights.

 

[beeno]

Hi Salmagundy,
This is a swarm from your own hive so you should know if it is a prime or a cast swarm. If it is a prime swarm then you can put your home made QX on whilst if it is a cast swarm it will be desperate to go on a mating flight which would lead to bullying tactics.

 

[Salamagundy]

Thanks to all for your advice.

I've been and put in a frame of brood with minimal stores. They had drawn a bit of comb on quite a few of the frames of foundation.

I put them into a new box because I was completely out of kit, having grown from 5 colonies to 12 in a very short time. For a few days it's been catch a swarm in the morning and make a box for them in the afternoon. Yes, I know....

They're still in there so I don't think the queen got out when I lifted the lid! There's a big clump of bees under the OMF - I'll check them again tomorrow. They're shaded from direct sunlight.

It was a prime swarm (last year's unclipped marked queen) which happened on Saturday morning while we were inspecting another hive - an impressive sight for the inexperienced.

I brought the swarm down on a substantial branch from near the top of a hawthorn tree, without falling off the ladder, popped them neatly into a cardboard box, closed the lid with a flourish and turned to receive the plaudits of an admiring daughter, before going off to make a new BB to put them in.

She pointed to a small clump of bees on the ground under the wheelbarrow and said, 'Aren't you meant to put the queen in there with them?'

They seemed quite happy in the (new) cardboard box until the brood box was finished and I transferred them. I'll try and keep some old boxes back for swarms next year - that's after I've built an extension to the equipment shed....

 

[richardbees]

She pointed to a small clump of bees on the ground under the wheelbarrow and said, 'Aren't you meant to put the queen in there with them?'

......thanks for that little gem!

Probably mentioned already but if you know she's a laying Q putting a QE under the bb on top of the floor is cast iron.

 

[Salamagundy]

Probably mentioned already but if you know she's a laying Q putting a QE under the bb on top of the floor is cast iron.

Thanks Richard.

Yes - I think that would have been preferable if I'd had a spare one.

I was quite pleased that the 4.1mm high gap in the entrance block kept the queen in the box, whilst letting the workers in and out as they wanted, although I did wonder if that was partly to blame for them swarming so often. It looked like they were pushing her from the inside and pulling her from the outside, trying to get her through the slot - so near yet so far.

Another swarm in another new box (same timber) with a qe under and normal entrance slot stayed put.

 

[richardbees]

good point!
amazing how much gear it would be nice to have lying around spare "just in case"

On wet weekends with sod all else to do, I make 3" and 1" ekes

 

[beeno]

Hi again,
Sounds like you are sorted. I expect they will give up eventually and settle down. Hope you get a break now. Well done! You will be looking forward to winter at this rate!

 

[Salamagundy]

Hi again,
Sounds like you are sorted. I expect they will give up eventually and settle down. Hope you get a break now. Well done! You will be looking forward to winter at this rate!

Hi Beeno.

Yep - sorted - till the next lot swarm! I should get more foundation delivered tomorrow and the frames are assembled waiting for it. Also timber to make more boxes.

Natural swarms seem to do so much better than artificial ones and in some ways I'm enjoying the challenge of catching and rehiving them, encouraged by a quote from M. (Wally?) Shaw:

'When one compares the comparative lethargy of an artificial swarm compared with a natural swarm it leads one to think that the
old-time practice of beekeepers, assiduously collecting swarms and installing them in their skeps, had something to be said in its
favour. Just a thought!.'

We're lucky to live some distance from other people, but I'm sure one will get away soon....

 

[beeno]

Yes, Salamagundy swarm collection is the best bit as long as it is not your own!