# Getting Swarm in the box on these warm days???



## AthensM50 (Jun 7, 2015)

Hey Guys.... I got a swarm call yesterday of a Large warm in a holly bush....it was a mess....they did not like it......ended up cutting the bush off due to it having Drawn comb all in it....about a foot in Diam. and about 2 1/2 foot tall......been there a bit!!!

My question.....how to get the swarm all the way in the box to transport?.....as warm is it has been....they all are not going in.......I went to get them this morning....granted they were still a little pissy due to being uprooted, but my bees hang out bearding.

How to get them to go in???


thanks in advance!!


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

When I picked up a trap that had bees out side at night, I blew a couple of puffs of ciggerette smoke on them and held the ciggerette where the wind put the smoke on them and they ran for the entrance. Yours are probly not the same if they were not sure where home was.
Good luck
gww


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## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

AthensM50 said:


> How to get them to go in???


Pick them up at dusk. Use a little smoke. If there is no brood in the box, and if it's close, put in a frame of uncapped brood from another hive and give them at least a few hours to acclimate. Use a mesh drawstring laundry bag around the hive and the outside bees for transport if they still won't go in.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Just smoke em in. Before sunrise is the best, coolest time of day.


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## AthensM50 (Jun 7, 2015)

couple puffs of smoke....and they ran right in.....went the next morning...and only saw one bee!


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## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

I bring a spray bottle of cold water, and I go after dark, when they're all back from the field. I set the spray to as fine a mist as I can, and I begin to mist the beard with the water. I don't soak them, but just let spray a couple of puffs of mist at a time, and let that mist drift over the bees. They usually promptly begin to head inside, as they sense a chilly mist coming on...

I bring along the spray bottle as a standard part of the swarm catching gear.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

burns375 said:


> Just smoke em in. Before sunrise is the best, coolest time of day.


I have trapped a hundred+ swarms in the last several years, this is the quickest and easiest way. If you go in the evening it can take 20 minutes to get a beard inside the trap. In the morning most/all of the beard is already inside. If your traps are near your friends houses you don't want to leave any straggles they can turn mean the next day.

Hanging another trap in the same spot can collect the few straggles that are left, these straggles also seems to help catch another swarm in your new box.


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## Scott Gough (Dec 10, 2015)

Adam Foster Collins said:


> I bring a spray bottle of cold water, and I go after dark, when they're all back from the field. I set the spray to as fine a mist as I can, and I begin to mist the beard with the water. I don't soak them, but just let spray a couple of puffs of mist at a time, and let that mist drift over the bees. They usually promptly begin to head inside, as they sense a chilly mist coming on...
> 
> I bring along the spray bottle as a standard part of the swarm catching gear.


+1 This has worked well for me.


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