new swarm being obtuse

[frenchbees]

A friend collected a swarm for me last Friday, due to various circumstances I couldn't collect them till Saturday morning. I was worried about leaving them another day so decided to hive them straightaway.
I went for the method that uses an empty super on top of the bb to contain them. So far so good.
They started flying a bit more than I expected so I quickly put the rapid feeder on top of super with 1 liter of syrup, thinking to remove super after a few days when they had settled.
Of course when I checked they had started building comb from the bottom of the feeder into the super.
I knocked them into the bb, removed the super, scraped the comb off the bottom of the feeder and replaced the feeder with more syrup.
Next mistake, there was pollen and honey in the comb so I put it in the feeder for them to use.
Checked again today and they are nearly all in the feeder building comb like mad.
I can knock them into the bb again and remove the comb, if I make sure the feeder always has syrup will this dissuade them from building comb there or should I remove the feeder? I don't have any other type of feeder.
Is there any way I can give them the stores they have already made?
So many lessons learned about how not to do this!

 

[Swarm]

Get a cat litter tray and fill it with straw. Add the syrup and place the tray directly on top of the QE over the brood frames and fit an empty super over this. Put the CB and roof on and do some 'listening' trips. When you hear rustling you know they have finished the feed. Any wild comb of stores can be put in the tray.
A litre will not be enough, see what they make of 4.

 

[Steve Dyer]

I am a bit confused as to what sort of rapid feeder you are using that has space for comb in it?

In general it's best to get quickly to the situation where you have the swarm in a brood chamber with (at least some) undrawn foundation and a crown board on top. Swarms are keen to make comb, but they love to form a "clump" in a open space hanging down. That's why they like your empty super, and presumably the feeder?

If your feeder is somehow supplying them with space where they can make comb, then don't use it. You can make a temporary feeder with a glass jar and just pierce the lid thirty or so times with gimp pins, or stick pins through the side of a plastic milk bottle full of syrup and place it over a porter hole in the crown board, blocking any other holes.
If French milk bottles are the wrong shape those plastic cartons that ice cream comes in will do...

What sort of fast feeder are you using?


Steve

 

[frenchbees]

I think l'm right in calling it a fast feeder, its about 4.5 cm deep with a a arrangement at the front to allow syrup into a narrow strip for the bees. When the syrup is gone they can get through the gap into the feeder. Hope that makes sense, it's difficult to describe, seems standard here. They're making comb from the bottom up on the floor of the feeder.
The straw idea seems good, could I fill the feeder with straw in the same way, presumably they don't have space to build comb then?