# Got my first swarm off ad



## Sherillynn (Apr 17, 2011)

Nice work! Let us know how they do.
Did you charge for the removal or pay her to take them! lol


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## Tnmedic (Mar 22, 2012)




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## MDS (Jan 9, 2011)

Congrats. That looks like a very large swarm, especially for your first one. Sometimes 
you can find the queen when you go back to brush the bees that have returned back to trees if you miss her in the first pass. Take a queen catching clip with you in case you see her. Looks like you made a days pay off that swarm!


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## Tnmedic (Mar 22, 2012)

Alright, got home tonight and just had to look at the hive. This morning I put in two baggies of 2:1 sugar water in it. Put a medium super body on it, then the inner cover and outer cover. When I removed the cover this afternoon I noticed that there were a lot of bees on the side of the box. There are a lot of bees on the frames I think. I didn't remove any, but there were a lot more bees than you see here. Anyway, is this normal for them? Just wanting to make sure. Yea, I'm a newbie..... I'm sure I'll have lots more questions if y'all will put up with me. LOL anyway, they also didn't eat much of the syrup. I know that they sometimes don't if there is a flow on. Thanks in advance. oh, they were also very peaceful when I opened them up tonight. Didn't have any even act aggressively. 

















Josh


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

A lot of times a newly hived swarm will "washboard" all over the outside of the box...or on an especially warm day a lot of bees will "beard" on the outside of the box to keep cool...and sometimes (like today) I find bees all over the outside of a box on a cool, windy day when there's nothing presumably wrong with the hive...they just felt like going for a "walk around the hive."
As far as the bees on the frames; if you'd removed a frame you would have had a hard time re-inserting it without crushing the hundreds of bees that were likely clinging to it, and to each other, bridging the gap from one frame to the next; they get REALLY thick in there, especially when they don't have much comb drawn out yet. (almost every single comb picture you see has had at least *some/most* of the bees shaken off before the pic was snapped...or else you'd just see a mass of bees with a few cells of comb visible around the edges)
Glad to hear they seemed peaceful enough; I usually take that to mean that the queen's inside, and her pheromones are keeping everybody happy 


-Rob


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## Ben Little (Apr 9, 2012)

Great job ! i am new as well and i can hardly wait until i get my nucs in may ! do you plan on making a bee vac ? for future swarm catching.

Ben


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## D Semple (Jun 18, 2010)

Don't leave an empty box above a newly caught swarm, they will build off the roof and ignore your frames.

Also, really not necessary to feed new swarms unless the weather turns bad on you; almost alway a flow going or they wouldn't have swarmed in the 1st place.

Know your new and it's exciting, but you should really try to stay out of the hive till they get some capped brood which will anchor them home or they may abscond on you for messing with them. For a primary swarm (which is what your's looked like) they should have brood in about a week. For secondary swarms (virgin queens), I leave them alone for 3 weeks.

Great job, congratulations.


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## Tnmedic (Mar 22, 2012)

well, I read your reply to late. I opened them up today. They were still very docile. Didn't smoke them, but I don't think that I really needed to. The first several frames that I pulled didn't have any comb on them and I was starting to get worried. But then I pulled this. 









I pulled it out, brushed it off a little and took some pics. I didn't leave it out long. I just pulled it up and took pics then put it right back. Anyway, It's probably to early to see eggs, but I'm not sure I would know them if I did see them so...... Anyway, what are the brown cells? Pollen? Here are the pics

















Also just an observation, I noticed that there were quite a few drones flying in and out while I was watching them. Anyway, thanks for your patience and help. 

Josh


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## Tnmedic (Mar 22, 2012)

Another question. If I took the bag feeders off and put a top feeder on without the empty super above it, would more of them go to work making comb? It seems like a lot of them are hanging out on the inside sides of the empty super. They aren't making anything in the super, just wondering. Thanks in advance


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

I agree with everything D is saying. I usually cover them & don't open the box for 2 weeks, except to make sure the frames are tight together after transporting them.




D Semple said:


> Don't leave an empty box above a newly caught swarm, they will build off the roof and ignore your frames.
> 
> Also, really not necessary to feed new swarms unless the weather turns bad on you; almost alway a flow going or they wouldn't have swarmed in the 1st place.
> 
> ...


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## dehavik (Jun 5, 2010)

Beautiful new comb! The brown cells have pollen in them, and they're likely storing the syrup you're feeding them. Bees that swarm are full of honey they ate just before leaving their hive, and all that honey in their stomachs stimulates their wax-producing mechanism. Wait a couple weeks and there will be lots of nice comb full of eggs.


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## Tnmedic (Mar 22, 2012)

ok, I have read in a lot of places that you need to feed syrup to swarms to "jumpstart" their comb building. Is that not the case? I'd obviously love for them to build a ton of comb, but also don't want to harm them in any way or impair them.


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## D Semple (Jun 18, 2010)

Tnmedic said:


> ok, I have read in a lot of places that you need to feed syrup to swarms to "jumpstart" their comb building. Is that not the case? I'd obviously love for them to build a ton of comb, but also don't want to harm them in any way or impair them.


I would ask somebody in your local club if your have a flow going and how long does your sprig flow generally last. If the flow is expected to quit in less than say a month, then Imo you should go ahead and start feeding, otherwise I'd let them fend for themselves. 

Now go catch some more swarms before you mother this hive to death! 


Don


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## Tnmedic (Mar 22, 2012)

Lol, I actually was just informed about a bee tree by someone's hunting spot today. I'm supposed to be going to look at it on Thursday. Got to research doing a trapout between now and then. Can't cut the tree down because of location, so I probably won't be able to get the brood or honey unless there is another way.


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

Tnmedic said:


> Got to research doing a trapout between now and then.


PM Cleo C Hogan Jr ... he invented what seems to rapidly be becoming the most popular trapout method in use & he's always happy to share his design/method with anyone who asks 


P.S. Maybe I should change my name to TXmedic? (I'm guessing you're a former 91/68 series too?)


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## Tnmedic (Mar 22, 2012)

Actually just got off the phone with the landowner and I can cut out a section of the tree to get the brood. And I'm just a paramedic, during my time I was 11b


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

tnmedic send me an e-mail. [email protected] and I will send you the info for a trapout. You should be able to get the queen, plus get yourself two or three starts, then eliminate the colony if that is what he wants done.

I hadn't though of 11B in a long time. Retired in 78.

cchoganjr


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## Tnmedic (Mar 22, 2012)

Well, I went out today to inspect my hives and this hive was gone. I guess they absconded. There were a few bees left, but I guess they were robbers. I had been noticing that there were very few bees going in and out. I figured they were just weak. I did see the queen in there early this week, so I guess they left since then. They drew out 2 frames of comb. I did notice that there were eggs laid in quite a few of the cells. I put the frames of comb into my other hive so at least they can hopefully use it. Oh well, win some and lose some


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

Its unusual for them to leave after the queen starts laying, unless someone or something is bothering them too much.


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

In my limited experience, it seems that there's a HUGE difference between eggs, and open brood. Brood that's even 1 hour past hatching seems to anchor a colony at least 5x better than eggs alone I think. That said, I've changed a LOT of things about how I move/tend my colonies since the last absconding, so I could be noticing the effects of other things as well.


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

robherc...Couldn't help but chuckle at one of your sentences. LOL "Brood that's even 1 hour past hatching seems to anchor a colony at least 5X better than eggs alone"... 

Brood that is one hour past hatching is a one hour old bee.

cchoganjr


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

hatching, not emerging. brood that is one hour past hatching the egg is a barely visible larva in a shallow pool of RJ. ... unless bee eggs don't hatch? lol


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## lakebilly (Aug 3, 2009)

Caught a swarm yesterday off a lilac bush out side an old house that casts swarms often. I thought it was too chilly ( hi 40's). Filled D10 overflowing. STOKED!!

I stapled a plastic queen excluder to a SBB to keep queen in, put in an entrance reducer. I screwed lathe strips on corners instead of straps to hold the D10 to SBB, & I made a screen telescopic cover.

Set box under branch w/swarm, quick gentle slam onto top of frames, set shim under screen top waited ten minutes home with nice swarm.

It took the bees a little while to go in b/c of QX. I plan to add another D10 today, & in a cpl days I will remove QX, hoping they will stay. I hate going 20 miles to get a swarm to lose them.


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