# Caught my first swarm!



## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Awesome! I got my first one yesterday as well. It was similarly sized. A softball maybe. The home owner had two huge ones the day before, but didn't know anyone collected them.


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

That is awesome that we both got one on the same day. Keep us updated on the progress.


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## estreya (Apr 20, 2014)

What a fun read! I hope they thrive in their new home. Good luck!


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## JakeDatc (Apr 19, 2010)

Hahha.. i love this picture of them standing around the gap like little safety engineers going ohhh man.. this will NOT do... get guys to close this up.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

onesojourner said:


> That is awesome that we both got one on the same day. Keep us updated on the progress.


Mine had only a handful of bees left yesterday. I don't think they had a queen. We put them on top of our struggling hive and watched them find their way in.


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

At least they should do some good that way.

Alright I am not sure about this swarm now. The bees are staying in the hive, some are coming and going. What has me worried is that they are not festooning much at all. They are just kind of spread out on the bottom and sides of the hive. These pictures were taken 24 hours after install.

This is looking straight down into the back of the hive. You 
can see they are just spread out on the sides. There are a
few hanging onto the bars but what are all these other bees 
doing?









I found a 1"x2" piece of comb on probably the third bar back
(on the left of the pic). I guess this is about on par with 
my first hive after 24 hours considering how few bees there 
are.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Neat that they're building comb already! Hope you get a nice "feral" genetics hive out of it! I'd love to end up with a hive or two of ferals before the end of the year to see how they winter vs. our packages from California.


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

jwcarlson said:


> Neat that they're building comb already! Hope you get a nice "feral" genetics hive out of it! I'd love to end up with a hive or two of ferals before the end of the year to see how they winter vs. our packages from California.


I wonder how many truly feral swarms there are out there. I am pretty sure that these probably came from a normal hive. Maybe not though. 

I am pretty sure these guys are going to make it, at least for the immediate future. They had good size chunk of comb built today and are all balled up like I would expect. I can't see them doing this if there was no queen. I have yet to see her though.


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## Sovek (Apr 27, 2014)

from my own experience on swarms, you are going to want a bigger hive, and soon. I'm in the middle of a nector flow and I have a 10 frame deep thats in need of some more room after 3 or so weeks. I'm actually planning on moving them to their new top bar hive tomorrow evening, should prove fun.


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

I am going to start on the new hive nixt week. 

After 2 inspections my worries are finally put to rest. Exactly one week after install I thought I saw some eggs and then on the third drawn bar I found my queen.


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

Nice Congrats, Looks like a mutt swarm I caught, 3 distinct different colorations, and the queen is exactly the same color as yours. Enjoy, Good Luck. G:thumbsup:


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## fruitveggirl (Mar 8, 2013)

Wow! They look awesome! keep posting photos! Hope you enjoy your bees!


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

And here is the brood!


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Interesting variety of bee sizes in that last picture. Awesome that they're doing well!


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

You know I did not even notice that when I was looking at them in person. Weird.


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

Alright I think this little hive is at a critical point. The population seems like it has dropped a good amount since I last got into the hive. They have about 4 bars about the size of the one below. all have brood and capped brood so I do think they will pull through. So far we have had some pretty decent summer weather. We have had a good amount of rain but plenty of warm sunny days also. Things are in full bloom right now. The entrance is not super busy but it is pretty early in the day and it is cloudy and wet out. Comb production seems to have almost stalled since I last looked in here. I guess they are concentrating on feeding the brood right now.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

So about June 19th they should start getting a boost in numbers, right? As far as comb building goes, I think that's a function of 1) how much the bees can cover and 2) how many bees are tied up caring for brood like you said. Our packages stalled out, but as soon as the new bees started emerging, they've started drawing comb like crazy again. First orientation flight yesterday, about nine days after initial emergence.

I just caught a swarm yesterday, as you saw in the thread I made. Did you feed your swarm at all?


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

Yeah the 19th is about when I expect to see some reinforcements. I experienced about the same thing with my first hive. They stalled out for a bit and then 2 weeks later they were booming. 

I did not feed my swarm at all. From what I have read a swarm is prepared for what is ahead. They have full bellies. I noticed pollen on some of the bees in the swarm. If you have plenty of bloom I would not feed them. Mine have been fine.


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

Alright I have just about finished the new hive. I just have the roof and the glass to go. This is a "scrap" hive like my last one, or to be trendy you could call it reclaimed...


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

I wish I had the wood laying around that you do! Plenty thick too, should be pretty well insulated. They're going to love the new digs. 

I just collected... ANOTHER swarm today. They were marching in when I left and 95% of them were already in the nuc hive (see, I'm getting smarter... been bringing a hive to work since I caught the other last week. Assumption is this one is queenless, but maybe they'll surprise me.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?299485-Another-Swarm-Capture&p=1120537#post1120537


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## AugustC (Aug 7, 2013)

The quality of your scrap is clearly much higher than mine.


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

AugustC said:


> The quality of your scrap is clearly much higher than mine.


This is all scrap left over form concrete work. The drum sander cleans it up really well. 

Alright I went through this hive yesterday since I am going to be out of town for a few days for work. There is plenty of capped brood so hopefully they will start getting the population back up. there are 5 pretty good looking brood combs, 2 pics of each below.


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## JakeDatc (Apr 19, 2010)

Nice! in a few days they will be rocking with new arrivals


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Awesome to see them doing well! The last swarm I captured had a laying queen. I opened the nuc yesterday expecting to find less than a softball of bees and I found them covering six bars about 3/4 across in a festoon with a deck of cards sized comb w/ eggs!

Got them Tuesday comb and eggs on Thursday. I'm out of town starting tonight until Wednesday so I'll be anxious to see how much they have going on at that point.


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## estreya (Apr 20, 2014)

Beautiful, Onesojourner! Great photographs of beautiful combs ...


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## onesojourner (Jan 9, 2014)

Alight here is a small update on this hive. They are still alive! and there seems to be plenty of stores left.


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## Kimkaseman (Dec 29, 2014)

How did you catch them? Did you put something in there to attract them?


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## Hobo (Mar 4, 2014)

Kimkaseman said:


> How did you catch them? Did you put something in there to attract them?


The OP explains in great detail how he caught the swarm in the first post of this thread.


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

Hobo said:


> The OP explains in great detail how he caught the swarm in the first post of this thread.


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## Kimkaseman (Dec 29, 2014)

Found that after I asked.... Oops


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