still getting swarm calls

[BrianO]

Great Vid Thanks !

Interesting to see trying different way as in getting them onto the frames

Could have put the clip cage on each frame also I suppose to get them onto each... Or as Eric just let em troop in.

 

[itma]

collected yet another swarm yesterday, and have to say, it was the most enjoyable collection so far, nice calm bees, and looks like the homeowners have a wild nest in the tree in their garden, spoke to the husband who is liking the idea of having a bait hive added in the tree for future swarms

https://youtu.be/pnLihpTpS_g

If you picked up the queen and put her in the nuc the rest of the bees would have trooped in without having to catch them on the frames
Once they start walking in you can move the box a little so that you get a line of them. Folk like to see that

Keeping Q in the clip is a nice idea IF the plan is to donate the bees to a Q+ hive and do away with the unknown Q.
Having her in the box gets the other bees in there, clip or not. Keeping her in the clip saves having to find her again.
Personally, I start with the paynes nuc disc entrance set to QX,and just try and get Q inside - and then they come to her, and she can't abscond. I'm not good enough at spotting Q in the swarm to try and start with her - though I did get lucky that way with the only swarm I've had to extract from under a car bonnet ...
Because some bearding on the entrance is likely, I try and ALWAYS pin the disc to prevent it rotating accidentally.
And I put a strip of foam (or rolled up newspaper at a pinch) between the front of the hive and the ground - that way very very few ever find their way under the nuc's omf. It became part of the routine after I once went along to pick up a nuc boxed swarm in the dark ... and got quite a surprise ... when I set it down in the car boot ... My only excuse is that it was dark.

Like the idea of using the frames to 'lift' the bees out of the grass ... always pleased to learn something new!

 

[REDWOOD]

I have refused most swarm call this year, just the one in my mother-in-law's garden that I was obliged to pick up and another one that swarmed out of a flat roof which I'm glad I picked up as they are lovely bees.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I have refused most swarm call this year, just the one in my mother-in-law's garden that I was obliged to pick up and another one that swarmed out of a flat roof which I'm glad I picked up as they are lovely bees.

I kept my head below the parapet this year and only had one call from a friend who knew I keep bees. Despite much describing over the telephone and being sure in my mind the bees would be bumbles I ended up going. Sure enough - bumblebees
That approach doesn't work when swarms come to me of course

 

[bontbee]

Where did I go wrong?

Keeping Q in the clip is a nice idea IF the plan is to donate the bees to a Q+ hive and do away with the unknown Q.
Having her in the box gets the other bees in there, clip or not.

Errrm, what did I do wrong?

I was called to a swarm yesterday in friends' garden. Looked straightforward, hanging from a low-ish branch - which they didn't want cut... (Low enough to need two steps of a step ladder). Confidently shook the branch and most of the bees landed in/on the box, containing a nice, drawn, used comb and foundations. But I hadn't got the queen - back up to the tree.

I tried again, and this time they started fanning vigorously and trooping in. Great.

Nope, they had a different idea and started popping out again. I watched the swarm that was, by now, making its way up the stile of the stepladder and spotted "the" queen. Popped her in a cage, a la Dexters shed, thinking what a good tip, and popped the cage in the box. That will do it.

As before, after moving in for a while, they moved out again, and while they were doing so, I spotted another queen and so repeated the process - in a cage and then in the box. Two queens in the box now: I must have them...

Well b****r me: in, then out again, and this time they took off. Bye bye, I thought but, no, they had just got fed up of my fiddling and decided to move to the decorative arch in the garden.

Feeling very hot and bothered by now, I dragged the ladder across the garden and half-heartedly climbed up - four steps this time, getting close to my limit.

I put the two queen cages on the top of the arch to see what they would do. Completely ignored them....

But, there was a third queen! Put her in the last cage I had with me and posted it just inside the entrance of the box. Success!!! At last they went in - and stayed in.

I'd love to know why it took the third queen to get these little bz to shift. Would she have been their "best" queen or was she, perhaps, the last one left?

After spending a couple of hours yesterday, and several more the day before, taking swarms away for people who are less than enamoured of them, I don't want to see another swarm this year - but my bait hive was very busy yesterday...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I'd love to know why it took the third queen to get these little bz to shift. Would she have been their "best" queen or was she, perhaps, the last one left?

Sounds like possibly it was a prime swarm - the first two were virgins which they ignored as they had a mated queen to look after

 

[bontbee]

Thanks, JBM, though I'm pretty sure that it wasn't a prime. Sorry, I didn't give all the info...

I've picked up three swarms from this garden: 1st last week - marked Q, significantly larger than the other two. 2nd on Thursday with the apple picker, 3rd yesterday.

2 and 3 significantly smaller that the first one. The neighbour has a hive in their garden (and I know the beek marks Qs.)

Wouldn't it be unusual for the colony to wait, with the original Q, for virgins to emerge? (Though I guess bees will be bees!!)

 

[Erichalfbee]

I must admire your skill in spotting virgin queens in a mass of bees once, never mind three times

 

[bontbee]

Thank you ericA!

 

[dexter's shed]

yeah, well done on that collection, so what did you do with the two spare queens??

I too took my last swarm over to my woodland yesterday, leaving me just four colonies in the garden, and when I got home, yup another swarm call out, called all club members on the swarm list but no one available to collect, so me again this morning, in the pouring rain collecting a swarm, they were well happy to see that poly nuc after getting drenched on that bush.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've taken down all my bait hives....can't cope with all these bees coming from somewhere!

 

[For want of a better word]

How many is that, and what do you do with them all?

Now the swarmy little darlings are getting established I can see a lot more cut outs on the horizon......

Think I will book a holiday!

Yeghes da

 

[dexter's shed]

today's collection

https://youtu.be/5jEMSuCeD5A

 

[midnight sun]

Still getting swarm cells myself. Got 2 supercedure cells in a hive and the Queen is new (laying well) and only just over 2 weeks into lay. I assume from this the strength of her pheromones are not up to level yet but will keep an eye on her just in case. (caps are worker so mated). I've had Queens 'disappear' (without swarming), failed Queen cells, Queen cells capped and larva looks like it's been capped too early (not full size and pool of royal jelly untouched in bottom of cell.
It's been a very odd year so far with 'plans' shot to pieces. Wish things would settle down. 2014 was such a 'simple' year compared to this. Still nothing like a challenge!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

today's collection

https://youtu.be/5jEMSuCeD5A

We share the same taste in secateurs I'm not keen on the mesh floor poly nuc balanced on sticks and stumps though, prefer a plywood bottom for robustness. It also gives better "darkness" while they settle in. Still if it works for you

 

[dexter's shed]

a plywood bottom for robustness. It also gives better "darkness" while they settle in. Still if it works for you

I normally have covers over the mesh, overwise bees in a swarm tend to collect underneath, but this really was a mission of mercy, all my swarm nucs had, swarms in them lol
I tried calling other beeks to take them and no one could, when the heavens opened this morning my thoughts went to them, so texted the lady who had rung the day before asking if they were still in situ, the rest is history as they say

 

[bontbee]

so what did you do with the two spare queens??

Squished 'em, of course!

Nah, I wish I could squish queens so easily. I'm just too stupidly sentimental... Because of that I have three, well, two now, fourth season queens still pegging away. No 3 is in the process of being replaced by the bees. They are/were lovely queens heading industrious, gentle colonies which, until this year were good producers. They were produced by the bees and mated themselves in a year when the weather was dreadful and mating abysmal - according to everyone else! Mine just found the right window. I've kept these old girls in nucs this year and have, on occasion, used their brood to boost other nucs.

To answer the question - at last - I gave one to a friend with a Q- colony, and put the other into one of mine that failed to produce a queen after an AS. Hoped to check on them today, but other bees called...

 

[flytrapman]

I collected 4 swarms last week all courtesy of local pest controllers and then found 2 swarms in bait hives yesterday
I always use Paynes 14 x 12 Poly Nucs to collect swarms, however I use the Brood Extension on its own to pop over swarms on grass and then transfer the frames to the poly nuc

 

[Tom Jay]

Swarm settled on our outhouse roof today. Here's them parading into a temporary home I made complete with four frames inside, as I had no brood box or spare nuc. By the end of the day I had a new hive so they're in a decent home now!

 

[jonnybeegood]

I collected a swarm last week, look like Buckfast, completly different to my bees, the queen was large & orange. Apparantly the land owners had a squirrel nest box up & wasps moved in 2/3 years ago which were actually honey bees. It was a very large prime swarm, its filled a 14x12 paynes nuc with super on top, drew all the foundation in both within a week. I'm wondering what these will do to my bees with cross breeding? Incidentally i put a varroa board under for 24 hours & only dropped 1 varroa?