# How would you help this tiny swarm?



## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

I think you are forgetting that nurse/house bees do not attack queens. Newly emerged worker bees are even more prone to accepting any queen they meet.


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

would giving them a frame or two of capped/emerging brood help? I think the emerging brood needs very little incubating, and would obviously accept any queen upon emergence, 'cuz they wouldn't know any better.


-Just my $0.02


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

You can move another hive and put it there, choose a hive that's not so strong it will totally flood the new swarm.

Also be aware that africanised bees throw small swarms like this.


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

I would give them 2-3 frames of bees and brood. just make sure a queen is not on by mistake. just give them a little smoke. no worry about fighting or queen killing.


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## Broke-T (Jul 9, 2008)

I would give them capped brood and bees like the others said, but not over 1 frame at a time.Every 5 days or so add another till they reach a critical mass and then they are on their own.

Johnny


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## Aerindel (Apr 14, 2012)

You could move them into an observation hive for the winter.


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## heaflaw (Feb 26, 2007)

Do you guys think that they will not build up enough on there own between May and winter in Texas to make it? People make up and buy nucs wven in the summer don't they?


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## MrHappy (Feb 10, 2012)

Oldtimer said:


> Also be aware that africanised bees throw small swarms like this.


I think this is a big concern for you being in Tx isn't it? It is prime zone there for them.

I would think that you could leave them for a few months and they should be fine. Once they do make it for a while, and build up enough of a hive to make it a little, then put in a frame or two to boost the population a little. I didn't think they really needed many bees to make it over the winter there anyways, just honey to live on. So you could just add a few frames of honey and they should be fine for the winter.

Option two is that you add the frames of brood now. The temp over night there prob don't get down to far and the capped brood should be fine over night.

Just guessing


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## swatkins (Jun 19, 2010)

Joseph Clemens said:


> I think you are forgetting that nurse/house bees do not attack queens. Newly emerged worker bees are even more prone to accepting any queen they meet.


I was worried that not all the bees I "transplant" to the new hive would be gentle house bees.. We have a strong flow going on ( Horse Mint) and all my hives have bottom entrances that are close to the brood nests. There is a LOT of traffic moving through the area I need to harvest from... 

Any tips on determining which frames would be free of aggressive bees?

I am leaning towards just finding a few frames of capped and shaking off most of the bees......


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## swatkins (Jun 19, 2010)

MrHappy said:


> I think this is a big concern for you being in Tx isn't it? It is prime zone there for them.


The risk in my area is very small... R Weaver and Bee Weaver have thousands of hives surrounding the area so most likely its either from them or a small after swarm from one of mine ....


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## swatkins (Jun 19, 2010)

Oldtimer said:


> You can move another hive and put it there, choose a hive that's not so strong it will totally flood the new swarm.


What is the idea behind this? 
Moving an existing hive into its place would do what? Make some of those bees take up residence in the trap hive?


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## swatkins (Jun 19, 2010)

heaflaw said:


> Do you guys think that they will not build up enough on there own between May and winter in Texas to make it? People make up and buy nucs wven in the summer don't they?


I am worried that the bees are going to have a hard time living long enough to care for and raise their replacements... They are at least 35 days old now and working hard to raise just a small amount of replacments.. Without some help I think they will, at best, just survive and increase very slowly..

Last year I caught a softball sized swarm, placed it on foundation and fed them well... Because of last years extreme drought I had very little drawn comb and they had to make their own comb. They made it through our mild winter but only because I fed them well. 

That swarm had 20 times the amount of bees this tiny swarm has....


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

swatkins said:


> What is the idea behind this?
> Moving an existing hive into its place would do what? Make some of those bees take up residence in the trap hive?


 Sorry didn't explain that very well. You move an existing hive away, and put the swarm in it's place, so it will get the feild bees from the other hive.

The reason for doing it this way with a very weak hive such as you describe, is the problem with giving them brood. If you give them brood they can't cover it. Once you have enough bees in the hive, you can then also give them hatching brood, if you want to boost it further.


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## swatkins (Jun 19, 2010)

Update....

I opened the hive this morning and found 20 bees and no queen.... Looks like the nurse bees I left on the new frame and the queens bees had problems... Don't know if they killed her or ran them out... 

Oh well it was a long shot....


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## timbee (May 16, 2015)

Well, it's 3-yrs and 15 days since your episode, but I just had a friend call me today, inviting me to come get a swarm at his house. When I got there, he pointed to a two foot bush with about 100 bees clinging to a comb attached to one of it's lower branches 6-8" about the ground. Not knowing how big the comb is under the bees, my estimate of the number of the bees is based on the cluster the size of a baseball. Due to a cold snap for this time of year, the temperature when I got there was 46 degrees with a light misty rain. That may have been a break of me getting 100% of them instead of only half of them had they been out foraging on a nice warm sunny day. He said there had been a huge swarm on a matching size and species bush approx. 50 ft. from the bush the swarm he had called be about for 6 hours, about 2 weeks ago, so I imagine these are the girls that didn't make it back to camp in time to go with the rest that day. Knowing they were going to die if I left them, I cut the branch off, removed two frames from my 10 frame brooder box, blocked the complete entrance/exit and brought them home in the back of my pickup. A peek inside when I got home from the 20 mile trip, some of them had left the cluster and were exploring the new and non-combed foundation. Since having them locked up and not knowing anything about their recent food or water sources, I mixed up a small batch of sugar syrup to get them through the night. It's supposed to be partly cloudy and in the 60's tomorrow so maybe they will come out of their ball so I can see if there is a queen in with them or not. My other two hives are in their second year, they are my first two hives, and they have already swarmed a week or two ago. So if there isn't a queen in the swarm, and no late queen cells in my hives, my bee mentor told me he will check his hives to see if he may have a frame with a queen cell or two. Once I can establish a queen in the swarm, I'm going to introduce at least two frames from my existing hives, containing comb, honey, and brood (no bees) into the brooder with the swarm, monitor them, and maybe add a frame or two of brood later if everything goes right. But like your very last statement of your last post, it's a long shot. And it's not about saving 100 bees to prevent them from going extinct... It's about giving it 100% of my effort, for the 100% of information I will gain from it, and the satisfaction I will gain from it, IF it's a success. 

Bee me up Scotty!!! (Even know I never watched a full episode of Star Trek in my life) 

Thank you for starting this thread swatkins and thank all of you others for your tips.


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## timbee (May 16, 2015)

I didn't see this until I had made my post about adding frames of comb, honey and brood. I will consider what you said here oldtimer, it makes sense. Very good sense. But I'm still a neophyte at this stuff...


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## Virginiaisforbees (May 12, 2015)

Please keep us updated!:applause:


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