Remaining swarm bees not captured

[Etton]

I captured a swarm yesterday from a nearby garden to my home and put into a nuc, which I took to my apiary a couple of miles away. I left a box to capture the remaining bees and because the swarm was in a bush there are quite a lot remaining. The reason I took the nuc away was I was concerned they looked as they might leave the nuc (a lot were clustered on the front of the nuc) but i am fairly confident I captured the queen with all the fanning taking place.

What is the best way to deal with these remaining bees? Do I open up the nuc and toss them in or place them on a white sheet in front of the nuc for them to crawl in..... will they fight,as it will be 12 hours since they were separated?

I think the swarm is from my one home hive, so another option is adding the remaining bees back into this hive.

How would you deal with these remaining bees?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’ve always just tipped them in But some do go back so I have to repeat the procedure.

 

[Etton]

I’ve always just tipped them in But some do go back so I have to repeat the procedure.

Just wondering would using an aerosol also help to merge the remaining bees?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I’ve always just tipped them in But some do go back so I have to repeat the procedure.

Never understood this obsession with white sheets

 

[For want of a better word]

I captured a swarm yesterday from a nearby garden to my home and put into a nuc, which I took to my apiary a couple of miles away. I left a box to capture the remaining bees and because the swarm was in a bush there are quite a lot remaining. The reason I took the nuc away was I was concerned they looked as they might leave the nuc (a lot were clustered on the front of the nuc) but i am fairly confident I captured the queen with all the fanning taking place.

What is the best way to deal with these remaining bees? Do I open up the nuc and toss them in or place them on a white sheet in front of the nuc for them to crawl in..... will they fight,as it will be 12 hours since they were separated?

I think the swarm is from my one home hive, so another option is adding the remaining bees back into this hive.

How would you deal with these remaining bees?

Too hasty to steal the bees away.... leave the box with the qx on until dusk when all the bees will be in the box... if bees are still bearding when you go back... either use an extension on the box to give more room and remove next evening or wrap whole lot in you white sheet and take them away.

The pherimone in the "bush" is more attractive to the errand bees than your empty box that does not have their queen in it!

 

[Angularity]

The pherimone in the "bush" is more attractive to the errand bees than your empty box that does not have their queen in it!

That's the thing. I always give the bush a good spray of air freshener, if I'm not allowed to cut off the offending branch and put in the box with the bees.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I think their goose is cooked, with the Q gone. You can grab miniclusters etc, perhaps with a good spraying. Then personally I would drop them in front of your home hive. And yes to air freshener (or a lot of smoke: I look like ?Moses sometimes.)

In this situation it all sounds OK but in others I worry about this glib "they'll sort themselves out": a good number of the bees in a swarm will never have flown before so IMO abandoning them is a breach of trust. But again, with a hive close they should be OK IN THIS CASE. But a bit of help can't hurt. Good luck.

 

[Stiffy]

I was called out by the owner of one of my out-apiaries as they had bees going under the roof of their property.
When I arrived , 5-6 bees were going in and out and thought ,I thought 'buxxer' the bees have settled and they are going to be a sod to get out , probably end up being destroyed.
As I stood there more and more bees arrived, I sprayed air freshener around the gap in the roof to deter and quickly got a nuc box from by pickup, which I placed on the roof, away but close to gap. The swarm arrived and went straight into the nuc box which is evidently far too small for the swarm .........phew.
I collected that evening and checked the following morning to see only a 2-3 bees remaining.
S

 

[beeno]

Etton, They will realise in due course that the queen is not there, if that indeed is the case, and go back to where they came from. Usually takes 3 days. If they are a nuisance and you want to reduce their numbers I would let them walk back into your hive early evening.

 

[beeno]

I was called out by the owner of one of my out-apiaries as they had bees going under the roof of their property.
When I arrived , 5-6 bees were going in and out and thought ,I thought 'buxxer' the bees have settled and they are going to be a sod to get out , probably end up being destroyed.
As I stood there more and more bees arrived, I sprayed air freshener around the gap in the roof to deter and quickly got a nuc box from by pickup, which I placed on the roof, away but close to gap. The swarm arrived and went straight into the nuc box which is evidently far too small for the swarm .........phew.
I collected that evening and checked the following morning to see only a 2-3 bees remaining.
S

Result!

 

[gmonag]

Good save!

 

[Stiffy]

Result!

More lucky than anything else, if I had been a few minutes later arriving they would have been in the roof.
I moved them to another apiary and had a quick look yesterday and they seemed fine. If I had shaken them into the nuc, I am sure they wouldn’t have stayed as it’s really too small but assume that as they ‘chose’ the nuc they deemed it okay. I will be re-hiving in the next few days and once they are settled check queen and if necessary replace her.
S

 

[Erichalfbee]

Never understood this obsession with white sheets

I think sometimes the bees are more inclined to stay if they walk in. Sometimes they come back out again. I walked my very first swarm in but haven’t bothered since. If they stay they stay if not then bye bye.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do they carry a white sheet around with them when they swarm?

 

[Etton]

Gathered the remaining bees this morning and planned to tip them into the Payne’s nuc with the problem of Getting the bees out of the feeder to be resolved... would have used the smoker as suggested. Anyway I quickly realised the Payne’s nuc was too small and maybe that’s why last night a lot were clustering one the front. I ended up moving the bees out of the nuc into a national hive, with a liquid feeder frame( problem solved), and tipped the bees from this morning on top. QE on front, so now wait to see if they abscond. Not sure whether to leave QE on or remove tonight.

 

[Etton]

QE is on the front entrance .

 

[beeno]

QE is on the front entrance .

I always leave the QX on for three days and take it off early evening on the third day, too late for them to go that day. If it is from your home hive you should know by now whether it is a prime or cast swarm

 

[Etton]

I always leave the QX on for three days and take it off early evening on the third day, too late for them to go that day. If it is from your home hive you should know by now whether it is a prime or cast swarm

I think it was from my home hive. I looked the previous day and had found 2 QC's (one sealed & one charged...the charged one I accidently damaged-probably no bad thing, as ended up leaving just the one sealed QC. I thought it was a supercedure but looks like they have swarmed with just 1 or 2 QC's, def no more.
Bees still remaining in the hive and bringing in pollen, I removed the entrance QE this morning. Fingers crossed!

 

[Etton]

I think it was from my home hive. I looked the previous day and had found 2 QC's (one sealed & one charged...the charged one I accidently damaged-probably no bad thing, as ended up leaving just the one sealed QC. I thought it was a supercedure but looks like they have swarmed with just 1 or 2 QC's, def no more.
Bees still remaining in the hive and bringing in pollen, I removed the entrance QE this morning. Fingers crossed!

A prime swarm.

 

[beeno]

A prime swarm.

Keep the QX on after 5 days you are more likely to be safe.