My Hive swarmed yesterday

[JohnnyD]

Hi All

My hive swarmed yesterday, it was in a tree in the garden, i managed to get it into a second brood box though, so currently its still got a few twigs in there and about 4 brood frames, tonight i will remove the twigs/leaves and fill with brood frames, i don't have a feeder ATM so can the syrup feeder wait until tomorrow? or do i need one today? Does anyone know if I can get one anywhere in Bristol ? The new hive was sealed overnight, and i removed the guard this morning with a small branch in front of the hive for recognition.

Does this all sound good ?

JD

 

[Eyeman]

Hi

i don't have a feeder ATM so can the syrup feeder wait until tomorrow?

The feeder is useful to keep the swarm in the box, stop them starving after 3 days when their honey sacs are empty and speed up the drawing out of foundation.
So the feeder isn't essential. If the bees are working then I wouldn't worry.
I only use a small margarine tub of fondant on my nucs, mainly to keep them in the hive and cover them for any prolonged periods of bad weather.
Alec

 

[beeno]

Hi JD,
I would not poke around too much in the hive at the moment small twigs and leaves they remove themselves. Do make sure you only leave one QC in the parent hive though. Well, done you.

 

[JohnnyD]

Hi beeno

but wont they need more brood frames, there are only 4 in there? when i say twigs, they a small branches that the swarm was on, i think they would find it hard to remove it themselves

Yes we found 3 capped queens and about 4 uncapped, so have left one capped in the first hive for now which should take 4 days or so to hatch

JD

 

[oliver90owner]

Well done? There was some poor advice. Far better to leave a known 'not-to-be-a-dud' open cell, or two cells if leaving closed cells. They can always be reduced to one when seen to be 'ripe' or you do run the risk of a swarm if you do not.

You could move away the hive just before emergence (not 'hatching' - eggs hatch) if it is close to a hive that could accept the flying bees.

No mention of checking later for any further queen cells that might be drawn on up to 3 day-old larvae, either. Just asking for late cast swarms, otherwise!

By all means get the hive filled with frames or they may well be building wild comb from the crownboard.

Apart from that, some good advice.

 

[JohnnyD]

So it looks like the swarm in the new hive is doing OK, however in the old hive, i see a hatched queen cell, but no queen or babies.......i also see another 2-3 sealed queen cells, what should I do, could the queen be out getting mated, shall i leave the other 3 sealed queen cells for now

JD

 

[oliver90owner]

Ahh, another 2-3 sealed queen cells? So you did not bother to check later for queen cells that may have been built around any brood up to 3 day old larvae?

They may well be about to emerge, the first emerged queen (they don't 'hatch') may be there or may have gone with a cast, can't tell. She, the first may have terminated them, who knows.

Are you sure the queen has emerged, even? I would need a description from you to be reasonably sure.

There is no chance that you would see any 'babies' as you call them. I presume you mean larvae?

With just the one apparently good hive I would be resigned to leaving things as they are, maybe risking casts, because you may just make things worse by intervening at this stage.

 

[JohnnyD]

The only description i can give is...I left 2 'sealed' queen cells last week, and today one of those cells has a hole in the bottom and is now empty, the other 'new' cells look sealed also.

JD

Ahh, another 2-3 sealed queen cells? So you did not bother to check later for queen cells that may have been built around any brood up to 3 day old larvae?

They may well be about to emerge, the first emerged queen (they don't 'hatch') may be there or may have gone with a cast, can't tell. She, the first may have terminated them, who knows.

Are you sure the queen has emerged, even? I would need a description from you to be reasonably sure.

There is no chance that you would see any 'babies' as you call them. I presume you mean larvae?

With just the one apparently good hive I would be resigned to leaving things as they are, maybe risking casts, because you may just make things worse by intervening at this stage.

 

[JohnnyD]

Hmmm There's another swarm of bees in the garden, i don't know if its one of my hives or not, what can i do? I don't have a third super, if it is one of mine, can i put it back in one of the hives ?

HELP

JD

 

[Finman]

.
Did you say that you gove to the swarm a full box of brood frames? Or are the frames empty or ?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hmmm There's another swarm of bees in the garden, i don't know if its one of my hives or not,

Cast swarm from one of the two sealed QC's you left in the hive together with a probably emerged queen? So yes, probably.

what can i do? I don't have a third super, if it is one of mine, can i put it back in one of the hives ?
JD

You can't just put it into another hive - two different colonies technically whether it's a swarm from someone else's hive or yours, and two queens - carnage!. That's what happens when multiple QC's get left in a hive.

 

[Dishmop]

These are good for picking things out of or near hives

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/600-MM-CLAW-GRABBER-PICK-UP-TOOL-SPRING-GARAGE-WORKSHOP-CAR-NUTS-BOLTS-SCREWS-/141271706280?pt=UK_Measuring_Tools_Levels&hash=item20e4732aa8

 

[JohnnyD]

Well, i dropped the swarm into another brood box with some frames in there, and within 5 minutes they all left the new brood box, and they have gone now, why would they do that? Did they not like the new home ?

It looks like the swarm was from the original hive, i have no larvae in there still, no visible queen and only 1 queen cell left now, i think i might lose this colony.

Cast swarm from one of the two sealed QC's you left in the hive together with a probably emerged queen? So yes, probably.


You can't just put it into another hive - two different colonies technically whether it's a swarm from someone else's hive or yours, and two queens - carnage!. That's what happens when multiple QC's get left in a hive.

 

[JohnnyD]

I just want to check i am doing the right thing here, after the cast left the hive yesterday, i saw 2 other queen cells, but no queen, should I look in the hive today again to see if one has hatched, I am worried about losing this colony now, one more cast would surely do that I think.

Thanks

JD

Well, i dropped the swarm into another brood box with some frames in there, and within 5 minutes they all left the new brood box, and they have gone now, why would they do that? Did they not like the new home ?

It looks like the swarm was from the original hive, i have no larvae in there still, no visible queen and only 1 queen cell left now, i think i might lose this colony.

 

[JohnnyD]

I don't know whats going on now.......Just found this

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0c3n0rAFfLQY19XY0haazlqeHc/edit?usp=sharing

Is it yesterdays cast returned or a new one from someone else ?

How the heck do i get that swarm off the tree trunk, its not on branches

HELP (again)

JD

I just want to check i am doing the right thing here, after the cast left the hive yesterday, i saw 2 other queen cells, but no queen, should I look in the hive today again to see if one has hatched, I am worried about losing this colony now, one more cast would surely do that I think.

Thanks

JD

 

[BeeJayBee]

How the heck do i get that swarm off the tree trunk, its not on branches

Wear suit and gloves, scoop the bees off the tree with your hands. Drop them into a nuc. Smoke the remainder to get them closer together on the tree trunk, and repeat.

 

[JohnnyD]

I managed to get them into a brood box exactly as you describe, but i have one issue, the frames in the brood box are without foundation, its all i had left, i can make foundation from super foundation, but should i disturb the brood box so soon after Getting them In there ?

Thanks

JD

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Super foundation is fine if you have nothing else, give them a few frames like that then get some foundation ASAP - or just go for the starter strip @foundationless' method - but without wire to reinforce, you will have problems later!!

 

[JohnnyD]

OK thanks all for your help today......I have two more questions if thats OK

In my haste and nervousness today, i have orientated the brood box so that the frames are the same orientation as the entrance, i.e. not vertical relative to the entrance, does that matter?

Also i am running out of space, i had one hive 3 weeks ago, now i have 3, cn i place one at 90 degrees to the other two about 4 feet apart, so the bees will all be coming in to land from the same sort of direction i.e. the new hive is not back facing compared to the other two

if that makes sense

 

[BeeJayBee]

Do you mean parallel to the entrance? If so, plenty of people prefer that way, but if you want to turn the hive so the frames run at 90degrees to the entrance it won't make much difference to the bees, they'll quickly adjust.

You can arrange your apiary the way that suits you best, for example my hives are on double stands about 9 inches apart with all the entrances facing in almost the same direction.

The one thing I prefer not to do is place them so the entrance of one hive faces me whilst I'm inspecting another colony.