# Adding swarms to existing hives



## hula681 (Apr 12, 2011)

just place them in a standard hive body after you catch them. Then combine using the old newspaper trick. I did the same, but with a small swarm and then a larger swarm. It gave me one big hive ready to produce honey.


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## Birdman (May 8, 2009)

dump all the bees out of the hive spray them with sugar water and spray the swarm also dump the swarm in.


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## treeoflife (Aug 20, 2009)

hula681 said:


> just place them in a standard hive body after you catch them.


I wondered about that as an option. I presume we are talking about a hive body with no frames, just something to contain the girls while they break through?? Thanks!!!


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## libhart (Apr 22, 2010)

You'll have to decide ahead of time which queen to keep. You'll need to find the other one and relocate her or pinch her. I wouldn't put the swarm in a box with no frames. I'd give them a box with frames and their own entrance. Let them go about the business of being a hive while the housekeepers from each hive work on the newspaper. Put some slits in the paper. You may notice very little action on the newspaper for a day or two, but they'll get through.


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## waynesgarden (Jan 3, 2009)

Another thing to consider is pre-empting the swarms you are expecting by using various swarm-reducing techniques such as reversing, splitting, chceckerboarding, etc. Pull some frames of brood from particularly strong hives and give them to the weaker hives.

Catching your own swarms is good, but doesn't beat preventing them if you can when it comes to honey production.

Wayne


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## John V (Jun 7, 2010)

I would hive them in a super for about 7 days. Let them start drawing it out and check for the queen. After that pick a queen and stick it on top of your hive with any of the different combining methods. Probally a newspaper combine or a light sugar spray. After they are excepted, use the medium for honey production and you won't have to worry about your hive being an extra deep tall. Of course you'll want to consider the future of this colony as well. It may be nice to have the extra hive body drawn and ready for a split later. Some decisions will be circumstantial.

Later, John


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