swarm on bait hive for days, wont go in...

[skateparkdreams1]

a swarm came to my bait hive, made with 2 med. langstroth supers in a tree. it has been settled on the front of the hive in a cluster. it has been 4-5 days now and alot of bees are going in and out but the cluster has just moved higher up the front of the hive toward the lid. can the queen not find her way in? as an entrance i have 3 thumb size holes drilled, are these holes too small? is the swarm still looking for a different home?

 

[Midland Beek]

Put them in ...

 

[skateparkdreams1]

whats the best way to do that? should i crack the top cover and hit them with a little smoke or maybe knock them into a new box? this is my first swarm experience other than one today that flew right past 4 bait hives into the neighbors woods somewhere. im just trying to keep at least one of swarms from the feral colonies in my barn

 

[snoop]

Lift the lid an inch or so & smoke them up into it

 

[skateparkdreams1]

ok thanks, ill try that

 

[terryme]

agog - did it work?

 

[skateparkdreams1]

so, i went to go try to smoke em in but the cluster was gone. there were about 50-100 bees going in and out of the hive though so i'm hoping that they figured it out on thier own. they built comb in the finger holds on the front of the super, so my guess is they wouldnt build comb in a temperary spot. is that a wrong assumption? maybe i will find out whats going on in there tonight when i try to move them