Queen Excluders

[jredburn]

I picked up a swarm yesterday from a friends yard and brought them home. Put them in a box with LG oil and #8 screen over an air hole in the back of the box. I had a round entrance hole in the front so I put a piece of plastic Queen excluder over it. No bottom entrance.

Sitting on the back patio this afternoon and we saw a swarm of bees move into a tree in the back yard. I went to check them out and they were from the swarm I had collected yesterday. There was a gap between the top cover and the side of the deep. I closed the gap and watched the bees on the front entrance for awhile when I noticed that the bees on the outside could not get through the slots in the excluder. Nor could the bees inside the box get out.
The slots in the plastic excluder were to narrow for the bees to get through.

There are no markings at all on a full sized sheet so I cannot give a brand name. I bought some excluders from several suppliers so I cannot blame anyone.

The openings are 5/32", just a little over 1/8".

Caveat emptor I guess.

[don2]

Is this a temporary holding box, or is it their permanent home? It is possible there were two Queens if the whole original  swarm did not leave. It could be they are not satisfied with their new home. May I ask, what was the reason for putting the excluder on to begin with? d2

[Colobee]

So, you now have several queen excluders & one moving screen?

[jayj200]

yes caught a swarm small open air did not use a queen excluder. color them gone. all of one minuet

[GSF]

d2

I use queen excluders "thinking" if I can hold them in the box a period of time they will call it home. I usually take it off the 2nd or 3rd day so she can mate.

[capt44]

I'm cornfused here. 
If you catch a swarm it usually has a mated queen.
I just pour the bees out of my swarm bucket into the hive and leave them be for a few days.
I have 8 swarms hived out in the beeyard now and they are doing great.
Only time I use a Queen Excluder is Rearing Queens using the Cloake Board method.

[AR Beekeeper]

I have had good luck holding swarms by putting a frame of uncapped larvae in the hive.  I have seen capped brood recommended, but I have had swarms abscond when I used the capped brood.

Capt44;  It depends if you have caught the prime swarm or an after swarm as to if the queen is a virgin. Even a prime swarm can have a virgin if the colony queen is clipped and unable to leave with the swarm.  The prime swarm can also have the mated queen and multiple virgins, I once caught a swarm from one of my colonies that had the mated queen and 6 virgins.  After I hived the swarm and caged the extra queens I opened the colony to check for and cut swarm cells, there were virgins emerging from 10 other cells.  If you have clusters of bees that hang on the sides or under the hive and don't want to enter the hive, you probably have multiple queens in the swarm.

[Colobee]

I'm cornfused here. 
If you catch a swarm it usually has a mated queen.

Normally, the only swarms that have mated queens are the "prime swarm" - the first one that leaves with the original colony queen. It is usually a very large swarm, with ~1/2 of the colony's bees. That same colony may then continue to throw "after swarms", each "headed" by a virgin queen. These are usually much smaller swarms.
 
As each colony normally only has one mated queen , but may produce & issue a number of subsequent virgin queens, the odds are that most swarms contain virgin queens.
 
Some believe that virgins mate during the swarming process. I suppose that's a possibility.

[don2]

It has always been my understanding that if a swarm doesn't stay, they were not satisfied to begin with.  The big swarm I spoke about once kept scout bees onto my stack for three days. once I put the 5th box on they took it. with in two weeks I had to add another super and got a couple mediums of honey from that swarm that year.  they came in mid May. d2