# Got my first swam yesterday



## FindlayBee (Aug 2, 2009)

Hello,

Got a call about a swarm yesterday. A fellow beekeeper who did not want the swam called me to see if I would be interested in it. After a few calls back and forth about the location of the swarm, I was given an ok to go get it. Got to the location and the swarm was in a very ideal location. I was just off a bit on the location but the fellow that called in the swarm showed up soon after I arrived. He told me to walk over towards him and just take a look. Well, there it was.

This swarm was located at a retirement community in a pine tree behind some billboards.

Well, if all swarms are this easy (I know they are not)... I will take as many as I can get.











The swarm was hived about 30 minutes later in one of my top bar hives that had a package abscond from earlier.


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## Sam-Smith (Jul 26, 2009)

I know a lot of beeks hate swarms but imho they are a lot of fun to watch / catch, gratz!


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## honeybeekeeper (Mar 3, 2010)

Thats a nice swarm and i really liked the high tech swarm box also..:lpf:


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## FindlayBee (Aug 2, 2009)

Just think, that high tech swarm box was on its way to being recycled.

Another picture of the swarm.


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## honeybeekeeper (Mar 3, 2010)

Thats a much better picture!


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## FindlayBee (Aug 2, 2009)

They are still in the hive as of today. They did start to build their comb across the bars rather than down the bars. I had to cut most of it out. I have some guides and my other hives seem to follow them much better. However, these bees even built from the bottom of the hive up.

Should I leave the cut off comb in the hive so the bees can move the nectar from the comb or should I remove the cut off comb from the hive?


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## honeybeekeeper (Mar 3, 2010)

I would stagger them so they can have a reference point. Or cut you some card board and put in acouple in between the first few bars, make sure it goes down about 5-6 inches deep. Just hope for the best until they get it right. Eventually they will get it right, all we can do is think of things to maybe help guide them into that direction. Good Luck! 

P.S.- I know of someone that has a TBH and his bees drawn the comb cross ways all through the TBH from one end to the other and cant figure out how to even lift one bar up to fix it...hahaha...Tonight i just found one bar of comb that broke off the top bar. I believe its capped brood comb but not 100% sure yet. Im gonna open up the TBH in the morning...My main concern is how long does it take for the brood to go bad. Its been hot and humid here all day and thats what caused the comb to bust...Im sure there will be more in the future and i'll fix them as well but i need to find out if the capped brood is still ok!


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## FindlayBee (Aug 2, 2009)

I ended up cutting out the comb that was not straight. Went back today and they had the hive split into a brood area and a honey area. The newly drawn brood comb was just about perfect on the bars and should fill in nicely. The honey comb was built across 3 bars and I cut that off and put it in the bottom of the hive for them to clean up.

I think my problem is the size of my bars. I have 1 3/8 bars and I have had a few issues with double combs on the bars, one built at a slight angle with another places right beside it. I have a small 2 foot tbh that is made up of only 1 1/4" bars and it is doing very well building. As of today, I am going with 1 1/4 inch bars in the brood area and the larger in the honey area. I worked in some 1 1/4" bars into the brood area that the swarm is building.

I will say this, I got one strong swarm. They are building very fast and seem to have found a great nectar and pollen source. They have 3 combs that fill about 1/3 of the space and each has eggs in it. They are working on a couple other combs that have brood and honey. Then there was a section of honey comb across 3 bars that I had to cut out. I put in some new bars with better starter strips and hope they will build straight this time.


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## FindlayBee (Aug 2, 2009)

Checked on the swarm again today. They are really building up fast. I have 3 complete combs now filled with eggs with some pollen and nectar. I am amazed at how fast they are building up compared to how my packages built.

Did see the queen today. She is just about solid black. The bees overall are much darker than my italians. They also love propolis.


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