Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: SoManyCats on March 24, 2018, 10:49:46 am
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warning: I'm a total noob. I've had one hive and lost it. I put out an empty hive body and a single frame of old comb on Tuesday. Yesterday I had a swarm move into it. (I've had 4 traps out for about 6 weeks with just little nibbles, but this one was a 3 day catch.)
This is a deep body with only a single drawn frame and 2 empty frames on each side. It is mostly open space. I know a swarm draws comb fast and I don't want them to make a huge mess inside. But I also don't want to scare them off by going in too fast. What's the wisdom on how long to wait before going in and adding frames?
I have not seen pollen coming in yet. But it mostly looks like normal activity. There was a tiny bit of honey at the top of the frame in there... yet this does not look like a frenzy of robbing bees. I see guard bees sitting at the door and what appears to be normal coming and going.
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Sounds like you have swarm. What are you using for attractant? I HAVE LEARNED THAT IT ONLY TAKES A LITTLE BIT of LGO to work, too much does not. If possible get frames in with as little disturbance as possible. As I have said before "Everything is right and everything is wrong". I have a friend about 70 miles NE from you that takes the swarm out as soon as he can, last year he caught 3 swarms in one trap in one day. Get in touch with the Bee club in Tyler.
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I would also do whatever it is you plan on doing now. Not that I?ve caught a ton of swarms either.
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Sounds like you have swarm. What are you using for attractant? I HAVE LEARNED THAT IT ONLY TAKES A LITTLE BIT of LGO to work, too much does not. If possible get frames in with as little disturbance as possible. As I have said before "Everything is right and everything is wrong". I have a friend about 70 miles NE from you that takes the swarm out as soon as he can, last year he caught 3 swarms in one trap in one day. Get in touch with the Bee club in Tyler.
Well heck. No, I was being overly hopeful. I had one old wonky bit of drawn drone comb in there that had a tiny bit of honey in the corners. It looks like it was just robber bees removing the last bit of honey. To my (very untrained) eye, they were not nearly as frantic as robbing bees. They were very calmly coming and going and even seemed to have guard bees posted at the door watching. But they left after being here 3-4 hours yesterday and a couple of hours this morning. I peeked inside... the honey corners are licked clean and no new comb was built.
So it's now put back together with about 5 frames (only one drawn) and some lemongrass oil. I'll wait for a real swarm. I've also got 4 traps out in various areas of town and one nuc on order for delivery next month. I was just hopeful I'd grabbed a swarm by luck.
...oh, and I'm already a member with the Tyler/Whitehouse club. They seem like a knowledgeable bunch.
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You are already late. Get the rest of the frames in there NOW or sooner.
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You are already late. Get the rest of the frames in there NOW or sooner.
I totally agree.
What are your observations today?
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The good news is... robbers swarm with the hive too. When they go to scouting they may remember this hive.