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Author Topic: Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?  (Read 1502 times)

Offline Groundhawg

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Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?
« on: March 22, 2017, 03:36:03 pm »
Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?

Had one of my hives swarm this morning, right now swarm is pitched in an oak tree about 25 feet right above my hive.  This was a second year queen and the hive was quite heavy.  Poor beekeeping on my part not to have known more and done more swarm control.  Have two swarm traps about 100 yards in different directions and might get lucky but have really ?written? these bees off.

So what do I do next with the hive they left from?  Should I wait and let them raise a new queen, or buy a queen ASAP and place in the hive, or something else?  If I check in a couple of days for queen cells and there are several how many should I leave?

Thanks for any help and information.
Gracious words are like a honey comb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.  Proverbs 16:24

Online gww

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Re: Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2017, 03:57:43 pm »
Goundhawg
I am new so take it for what it is worth.  You can check now cause if the swarm left the cells should be capped.  I think getting rid of all but two (preferably on the same comb and on the same side of the comb)  might help reduce the chance of an after swarm.  If you have other hives or a lot of brood frames in this one and want more hives, you might want to use the queen cells and make up a bunch of nucs. 

for the swarm in a tree 25 foot up, if you had a pole long enough or could throw a rope over the branch they are on, you might send a frame of open brood up and touch the swarm and it might move to cover the brood letting you hive it when you lower the brood comb.

Good luck
gww

Offline cao

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Re: Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2017, 08:58:04 pm »
I agree with gww.  Check on them sooner than later.  If there is multiple queen cells on separate frames and there are still plenty of bees left you could make up a couple mating nucs.  This would increase the chance for getting a good mated queen.  If you don't want any more hives you could combine them later.

Offline Groundhawg

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Re: Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2017, 10:13:17 pm »
They were gone almost before I sent the message. While I am quite new to keeping bees my Dad and Uncle had them for years. I have never seen a swarm pitch so close to the hive and leave so quickly. I was only about 90 minutes from the time we saw them leaving the hive until they were gone. Had swarms leave the hive and never be seen again but the times Dad and Uncle Burss have a swam stay in the yard they often stayed for hours or even overnight. Gave us some time to try and get them back.

Well I learned a lot and while you can not always keep a hive from swarming there were several things I will do different next time. Also I now have a chance to try several things to help the remaining bees and/or start a new nuc or hive.  Plan to get in the hive and check the queen cells; how many, where, and see how I can help them.  If I can find several and some on more than one frame would like to pull at least on frame and place in a nuc with some frames and bees from another hive.
Gracious words are like a honey comb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.  Proverbs 16:24

Offline GSF

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Re: Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2017, 08:12:18 am »
groundhawg, you can do everything right and they'll still make you look like a rookie. I had a hive swarm almost 2 weeks to the day from the last swarm cell looking for inspection.
When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - then you know your nation is doomed.

Offline wadehump

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Re: Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2017, 09:26:51 am »
You can do all you can but you cant stop them from swarming. Swarming is what nature intended to reproduce THERE genetic line and is natural. You had traps out BUT they located a better to them home. Just be happy with the brood break and the new queen you will get to carry on with. You could still get a few after swarms so if your goal is more hives then :wink: you may want to bust them up into nucs with a couple of swarm cells per nuc to increase you numbers.

Offline Acebird

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Re: Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2017, 10:02:30 am »
It is nice to get free feral  bees but the down side is they have already displayed their nature.  Breeders select bees that are less swarmy.  Collecting swarms from swarmy hives only nets you swarmy hives.  When you are handed something free you don't really know how free it is until some time has past.
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Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2017, 01:03:59 pm »
Okay just had a hive swarm, what do I do next?

Had one of my hives swarm this morning, right now swarm is pitched in an oak tree about 25 feet right above my hive.  This was a second year queen and the hive was quite heavy.  Poor beekeeping on my part not to have known more and done more swarm control.  Have two swarm traps about 100 yards in different directions and might get lucky but have really ?written? these bees off.

So what do I do next with the hive they left from?  Should I wait and let them raise a new queen, or buy a queen ASAP and place in the hive, or something else?  If I check in a couple of days for queen cells and there are several how many should I leave?

Thanks for any help and information.

The first thing that I would do for the remaining hive is put my ear to the hive to listen for piping. If I did not hear any piping, I would check it again every so often to make sure they do not have more than one queen. One queen will not pipe.
If you do hear them, get a bunch of queen cages and take it apart, remove the queens and put one back in it.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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