Very small swarm, not taking any syrup, WHY?

[astabada]

Hi everyone, two days ago I managed to catch a swarm, a VERY VERY small swarm. I put them in a nuc box and fed them with syrup, but they haven't even tried a bit. What's wrong?
The bees are standing on the first two and half frames and the syrup hole is between the 4th and 5th frame. Is it too far away for them to realize it's there?

 

[VEG]

Is it a frame feeder?
sometimes they dont know it is there. drizzle it in trail back to the feeder, you could move it closer to them then once they find it you can move it out a bit.

 

[Russel]

Hi everyone, two days ago I managed to catch a swarm, a VERY VERY small swarm. I put them in a nuc box and fed them with syrup, but they haven't even tried a bit. What's wrong?
The bees are standing on the first two and half frames and the syrup hole is between the 4th and 5th frame. Is it too far away for them to realize it's there?

Swarms will usually have an ample( around 3 days?)supply of honey with them to carry them through and draw out new comb when they find a new home ; so do not (usually) need feeding!

 

[itma]

Ideal would be a small contact feeder (like a "jar attachment" feeder).
That way the food is closest.
And do everything possible to keep them and the syrup warm.

 

[astabada]

Thanks for your replies! No it's a standard rapid feeder (placed on a crownboard over the frames). I'm a bit worried because the swarm is very small and the weather today (and for the next two days at least) is quite bad... I don't want them to starv :-(

One more question, could I add a frame of brood (sealed) to boost the nuc size? Could this help?

 

[VEG]

They struggle to find rapid feeders sometimes so drizzle some syrup down the hole so they will find it.
If your other hives can spare the brood then give them a frame of emerging brood.

 

[oliver90owner]

A frame of emerging brood, but probably not a full frame of brood as they may not be able to cover any which may not be close to emerging. Better a small amount and increase this as house bee numbers increase.

Just 'capped brood' is not a good enough descriptor - it may need two weeks before emergence!

 

[astabada]

Thanks VEG!
Fingers crossed..

 

[tidymeup]

Some times I use a little bit of string dipped in the syrup and then dangled down Into the hive.

Gives them something to walk up to.

 

[Finman]

.
How many frame the swarm is? Have you dummy board?

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