Swarm Fever

[DALEGREEN]

So having caught and hived two swarms in the past week or so there was another today. The ones I caught before are still in the new hives so is it likely that to be a new swarm. I hade one hive and a colony in a roof.
Two weeks ago a swarm formed which I was too slow to capture so this makes 4 in two weeks. I try to leave the bees to get on with things so I have not inspected for queen cells but my inspection of the main hive before this started did not suggest the hive was overfull. There were only half a dozen frames filled in the super above the queen excluder. I do not have another spare hive so can these be added on top of another brood box with a separate floor and entrance or should I try to unite them? Or just let them go?

 

[Ian123]

Just because your super is not complete doesn’t mean the brood box is not rammed, particularly when there’s a flow on. Get in there and inspect your hive and see what the situation is. To keep good viable hive’s you’ll need extra equipment and inspections to some degree or another. Leaving the bees to get on with it as you say is probably not doing them any favours or you and the neighbours.

 

[enrico]

A hive can swarm itself to death if you let it. I understand that people keep bees for different reasons but if you are not going to do five day inspections then expect loads of swarms! That's how bees reproduce and you are not controlling it in any way so they will make the most of it!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

So having caught and hived two swarms in the past week or so there was another today. The ones I caught before are still in the new hives so is it likely that to be a new swarm. I hade one hive and a colony in a roof.
Two weeks ago a swarm formed which I was too slow to capture so this makes 4 in two weeks. I try to leave the bees to get on with things so I have not inspected for queen cells but my inspection of the main hive before this started did not suggest the hive was overfull. There were only half a dozen frames filled in the super above the queen excluder. I do not have another spare hive so can these be added on top of another brood box with a separate floor and entrance or should I try to unite them? Or just let them go?

I'm not sure what to make of your comment about being too slow to capture a swarm or leaving bees alone to get on with it. You create a mental image of someone with a very large butterfly net chasing after a swarm as it flies away having emanated from a box of bees you have left alone . Hopefully I'm misinterpreting

 

[Anduril]

You create a mental image of someone with a very large butterfly net chasing after a swarm as it flies away

That is so yesterday, the modern method is a hive tool and saucepan.

 

[DALEGREEN]

I'm not sure what to make of your comment about being too slow to capture a swarm or leaving bees alone to get on with it. You create a mental image of someone with a very large butterfly net chasing after a swarm as it flies away having emanated from a box of bees you have left alone . Hopefully I'm misinterpreting

Merely that before I could organise my kit they flew over the hedge and over a farmer's field into which I could not go.

 

[ericbeaumont]

before I could organise my kit

To be blunt, Dale, the time to do that was a month ago.

Had you a plan and a few bits of kit, you could have managed swarming, wouldn't have lost your workforce and could have taken honey this year.

Ian's advice is sound.