# My NUC Swarmed August 5th



## Keyser4 (Dec 16, 2015)

Ok it's been hot and humid my NUC grew and had two deeps full of brood, honey I also had two mediums with wax foundation on top they swarmed yesterday. I caught them in a deep with two frames of wax foundation and a frame with some comb. The questions are should I steel some frames of honey and brood from the parent hive and stick in the swarmed hive? Should I feed either hive? It appears that the parent hive has very few bees left I didn't have time to inspect it when I came home, due to not having a deep ready to catch the swarm. We still have a decent flow trefoil and some clover, goldenrod is just starting to bloom and there are lots of thistle in bloom. I came home and saw the swarm in one of my apple trees, I had to build a deep real quick then caught them in it, I know I should have had a hive body ready! My first year keeping bees and still learning. I realize I am all over the place with this post. I am located in the far north (Canadian border) of Michigan in the UP, extreme temps, negative 30 without wind chills in winter and it's been a hot summer for us. So I have read July swarms or August swarms are a waste, what should I do to save them? Start feeding now? I do have family in TN and Southern GA which I could visit and transfer the bees too if that's the only way they will survive. I would wait till October. Any advice will help. thanks Josh


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

My opinion is to give them a frame or two of brood (no bees at this time since swarms and "foreign" bees don't play together well) and put a feeder on them. Add another frame or two with bees in two, three weeks. The queen should be laying soon (assuming the mated queen went with the swarm) so you'll be getting brood soon. If you give them a frame or two additional drawn comb the queen will have room for laying. That said, swarms build comb real fast, especially if there's a flow on or if they have a feeder, so the extra frames of drawn comb may not be necessary. All the adding frames assumes you have them to spare, if not get the feeder on them and go from there and keep an eye on them. Good luck with the swarm and the nuc.


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