Swarm absconding

[Repwoc]

I collected a swarm yesterday evening. It was almost dark when I got home so I left them in my garage last night in the large cardboard box I used to collect them. I popped them into a Maisies nuc this morning ~ 9 AM. They settled down and all seemed fine after ~ 30 minutes. They are temporarily in my garden - the plan is to take them to my apiary tomorrow.

This afternoon ~ 5 PM they all poured out of the nuc and swarmed off; however, I had put the QX entrance on so the queen couldn't get out and half an hour later they all returned. Then they tried to abscond again at ~ 7 PM with the same result obviously. Now (9:25 PM) they are sitting on the front of the nuc.



The swarm's not that big. There's plenty of room for them in the nuc.

I really need to shut the entrance tonight so that I can move them tomorrow morning before it gets too hot. I thought about spraying a little cold water on them to persuade them to go inside - any ideas?

 

[kighill]

Try putting them into a full sized hive or add another Nuc brood body on the top.
Even though not a large swarm they may not be happy with the size of accommodation.

 

[Angry_Mob]

Offer them a frame of brood from another hive, get as many bees on it as you can before placing it inside the nuc.

 

[beeno]

They will get fed up eventually and settle. Give them three days!

 

[Repwoc]

I couldn't have them in my garden any longer - the neighbours (well one anyway) would have gone apesh!t if they swarmed/absconded (and she noticed).

I sprayed them with a little water. A lot of them went inside, but many clearly preferred being out in the rain.

I woke up at 04:45, so nipped out and there were only ~ 10 bees on the outside so I wiped them off, closed the entrance and went back to bed. I moved them to my rural apiary at ~ 08:00. They can play at swarming as much as they like out there - no one to bother.

 

[oliver90owner]

I expect it is a cast with a virgin queen. They are often flighty.

 

[Repwoc]

I expect it is a cast with a virgin queen. They are often flighty.

Yes - I left the entrance open once I had moved them in case of a VQ, so they may not be there when I next visit.

 

[Firefly]

I expect it is a cast with a virgin queen. They are often flighty.

That's interesting - I did not know that. I lost a swarm for the first time ever this year, and it was definitely a cast (I collected the prime one a week earlier. Still got that!)


Does it make a difference if the cast is taken more than 3 miles, so their surroundings are unfamiliar?

 

[Repwoc]

Does it make a difference if the cast is taken more than 3 miles, so their surroundings are unfamiliar?

I moved this swarm ~ 2 miles to my garden (bee line distance estimated from Google Maps), but I've no idea where they came from so maybe much closer.

My out apiary is much further than 3 miles though - I'll find out when I next visit if they decided to stay.

 

[Repwoc]

Visited the out apiary today. They decided to stay. So either they wanted to be further away from their original location or they just didn't like my garden and prefer the rural life.

 

[beeno]

Great news!