New swarm - sitting in a huddle in their new hive

[RogerIvy]

I caught two swarms today, one from a split and the other from somewhere else.

The ones from the split are already very busy - hopefully drawing comb.
The swarm that came in from elsewhere have no activity in/out.
Below is a pic of the incoming swarm. Initially settled on the front of another hive. It was actually pretty big.



Below is a pic of them at the end of the day. No activity at all.
Could this mean they intend to move on?

 

[Boston Bees]

If they initially settled on the front of another hive, how did they get into this box?

 

[blackcloud]

Ditto but some cool weather later on will help them decide.
I collect swarms and use a fine water spray to dampen the air around the area- gets them into the box quickly when it's too warm- they think the weather is turning.

That's not a particularly big colony btw
What do you mean by a swarm from a split?

Just leave them alone and see what they come up with after a fortnight.
It will be easy come easy go or perhaps a pleasant surprise.

 

[The Poot]

I think they’re amazed by the cleanliness of the frames and don’t want to mess them up

 

[RogerIvy]

If they initially settled on the front of another hive, how did they get into this box?

We scooped them up and into the box. After a few handfuls the rest followed.

 

[RogerIvy]

What do you mean by a swarm from a split?

One of our colonies became queenless, there were about three emergency queen cells. We were about to inspect when the other swarm came in. While they were still settling our previously queenless swarmed.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

If a colony is queenless, they are not so keen on drawing comb. Neither are they if they have no food. If you are concerned that they (a queenright stock) might leave, put a queen excluder under the brood box for a couple of days. This will not cause problems even if a virgin queen is present as virgins usually fly before they are ready to mate, so a couple of days stuck indoors is fine and the colony should stay by that time. She can mate after the excluder is removed.

A colony usually swarms to a temporary site close to the hive to check that the queen is present before they go off to their new nest site. Without a queen, they will almost certainly go back home. (This happens with a clipped queen, for example).