# Suggestions for getting it right



## Weallneedbees (Mar 12, 2016)

I've had my best luck if I lock them in with a wire mesh or entrance disk that is just for ventilation for at least a day. I suppose you have already tried that but if you haven't you might give it a go. Works well for me.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

I don't think a box with frames of brood _with nurse bees_ will serve to hold or attract a swarm. And I fear the brood, separated from the larger mass of bees in its colony may die of exposure.

My experience hiving swarms has been modest (just three) but I have never had one leave. I'm not particularly "gentle" with them beyond normal bee-handling caution. Sometimes they have been easy to catch and sometimes they are so difficult to access the collection part wasn't particularly gentle.

If the swarm is still there in the morning I would prepare a full-sized box (not a nuc) with a comb or two with a bit of honey and pollen and the rest empty, even undrawn foundation. Leave the middle combs out until the swarm is inside (assuming you are going to dump them in.) Then add the combs, including a comb with some brood but without any nurse bees. Close 'em up and let them be.

I find it helpful before dumping them in to temporarily set an empty box on top of their new home to act as kind of a funnel. I have seen demonstrations where the bees were dumped outside the hive and expected to go in, and I'm sure that works. But I like to get them (mostly) inside in short order. Once they're down in their box I remove the funnel-box, fill in the missing frames and put the top on. 

I figure that if I give them some chow and a job (caring for the brood) in the first hours they will cease house hunting and settle down. Unless I had to move the collection box some distance, or in my car, I would never shut them in. And I would open them up as soon as we arrived at their new place.

Good luck tomorrow - a foot-ball sized swarm would be a nice addition!

Enj.


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## OkieRob (Dec 31, 2014)

I caught (shook out of tree) several swarms last year and never had one leave. I usually only had undrawn foundation to put with them. I put a top feeder on them and entrance reducer is the only thing extra I did. I do run solid bottom boards also.


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

It sounds to me (anthropomorphizing) like you have set up an easy usurpation. Whether the swarm is set for that I don't know, I understand African bees often will though.
Bill


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## Zephyr (May 4, 2016)

whiskers said:


> It sounds to me (anthropomorphizing) like you have set up an easy usurpation. Whether the swarm is set for that I don't know, I understand African bees often will though.
> Bill


I dont think I quite follow. Care to elaborate?

While we're at it, anyone got some good reads on swam behaviors? Might help me make better decisions if I knew wtf I was looking at half the time.


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## OkieRob (Dec 31, 2014)

Zephyr said:


> I dont think I quite follow. Care to elaborate?
> 
> While we're at it, anyone got some good reads on swam behaviors? Might help me make better decisions if I knew wtf I was looking at half the time.


By placing the hive with brood and bees in front of the swarm, you are inviting them to move in and take over the hive. That is what is called a usurpation.


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## OkieRob (Dec 31, 2014)

double post


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

Anthropomorphizing is thinking as or from the point of view of an animal.
Usurpation is where bees take over another existing hive. What you have left in the trap is a weak, queenless beehive. This may or may not be what the swarm is looking for. If there are queen cells with the bees in the trap they may be more likely to defend it. I have no idea how this turns out but I hope you report your results.
Africanized bees have a reputation for usurping even strong hives. They invade, kill the existing queen, install their queen, and thus take over.
Bill


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

I catch several swarms yearly and all but one or two stay in the hives. I prefer solid bottom boards for swarms, they'll leave sometimes if too much light is in the hive because of a screened bottom. I usually put a frame with brood, no bees, in the target hive if I have brood available. Capped or uncapped brood both work in my experience. If I think they might leave (no frame of brood), I put a queen excluder under the box after the bees are all in and leave it on for three days. After three days I remove the excluder so drones don't get trapped. The queen should be laying by then or at least new comb is being drawn to keep the bees in the hive. If the queen is a virgin, she needs to take mating flights so the excluder needs to be off. I don't bother the hive, other than moving to it's permanent location, for the first week or so.

I average about twenty swarms a year and don't usually have any leave. Sometimes they will leave before I get the excluder under the box, but usually not. Hope my suggestions help.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Some lemongrass oil and some QMP and they usually will move into the box on their own. If I can lift the box up to the swarm and let them move into it, that helps, even if not all of them move in. Open brood will anchor them if they are in the box.


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