# Captured my first Swarm



## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

I went over to visit my neighbor and was talking to his wife on the porch when she noticed a big swar in the cherry tree above his hives. We got out the ladder and I had an extra box, climbed up and cut the limb. came down and the cluster went back up. Apparently she was on another limb. let them cluster for a while and took a bucket with lid. got all I could, put them in the box. saw alot of bees fanning at the hole in the top of the box and bees entering rapidly. Am assuming I got the queen there was still afairly large cluster around the limb but the bees in the box covered the frames and bees were steady coming. Guess we will know tommorrow.
View attachment 10246


well, seems I cant upload pics, had some great ones but the manager says error, sorry maybe later G


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

whats up with the upload manager, I have posted pics here before, never had any trouble.......:scratch:


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

maybe they went thru.


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## Beekeeper23 (Mar 5, 2014)

Nice!


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

Thanks beekeeper, had some better pics off the ladder but cant get them uploaded. :kn:


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## BeeMoose (Oct 19, 2013)

That swarm looks huge in the picture. Congrats.


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

It was giant beemoose. I wish I could get some of the other pics downloaded but it wont let me, I am going to try and import from flicker but not sure how to do that either....lol. In any case hope they are still home in the morning. Probably as big as 3 footballs at least.......G


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

maybe this will work.........:scratch:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/


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## Brad Harrison (Oct 28, 2013)

My hive swarmed twice last week. I caught both. The first swarm was about football size. After an hour I managed to get it hived in my extra box and so far no problems from it.The second was two days later on Friday a basket ball size looking swarm and after a bit was able to get it hived in a box I borrowed from a guy down road. Came home from church sunday and it had left the hive and was on a nearby limb so hived it again and so far it seems to be staying. So watch out. Keep an eye on them because just because you catch them doesn't mean they will stay.


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

BeeMoose said:


> That swarm looks huge in the picture. Congrats.


X2. Looks like a whole hive.


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

Im like yall, I dont know how they all came out of one of those hives, but both hives still were thick with bees. I hope they stay but if not, so beit. Im gonna try and raise that hive if they do. He doesent want to expand.


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

Wow,

That is a big swarm!


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

Yeah Im at work, my buddy just called, the bees are still in the box but the cluster I left behind on the limb is still there also. This is my first capture. I was assuming if I had the queen the cluster would move down. Its probably been 18 hrs. I wont be home till 5 tonight, any suggestions? Are they still smelling her up there? I would have figured the bees in the box to be vacating the box if she wasnt in it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks G


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## Brad Harrison (Oct 28, 2013)

When I was hiving my two swarms the stragglers kept wanting to go back to same spot so I stuck a ladder up to where the stragglers kept going and caught them again and then cut the limb they went to and stuck it righr in the opening of my catching box on top of ladder which was just a cardboard box and then was able to get pretty much all of them. Cutting the limb and changing up where they swarmed again think made them just go ahead and stay in my hive. 
When the big swarm I caught moved out from where I hived them I moved the hive under the limb they swarmed to and was able to catch almost all I'm my box and so far they staying.
I'm just a beek greenhorn so take that into consideration when reading what I did. Probably a lot better easier way than what I went through.


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

Grab a frame with open brood from another hive, and stick it into the box with the swarm. They are far more likely to stick around, and that looks like a big one you dont want to up and leave. I've had a couple swarms leave about 48 hours after we got them in the box with fresh new frames.

Hoping we have swarm management better figured out this year, so I wont have to go thru the process


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## jimmyjazz (Jul 14, 2013)

Very nice, congrats and hope they stick around for you.

JJ


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

Wow! That's a monster swarm.


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

Thanks yall, and I will heed the advice on the open brood frame. I have some to spare. Got the rest out of the tree today, they were still clustering, about a quarter I guess, think the queen was still up there. Once I got the majority the rest came to the hive. I was surprised the rest of the bees stayed put in the hive, didnt seem like many if any left since I hived them yesterday, figured they would have left for the Queen. Anyway, tommorrow I will add the frame and move them to their new location friday before light. Thanks.


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

Could the swarm have 2 queens? I think I've read about that happening before.


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

I dont know Brad, but they are all in the box now...........opcorn:
Wait and see..........


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## G3farms (Jun 13, 2009)

That almost looks like two swarms to me.


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

G3farms said:


> That almost looks like two swarms to me.


Could be G3, there are 2 hives where the swarm occurred. That might explain why they acted the way they did. Well, they are all in the same box now, and seemed to be getting along fine. I will just have to wait and see I suppose, what would happen? Will they pick one queen or would they cast another swarm?


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## treetrunk (Apr 25, 2013)

I caught 8 swarms last week, a few would cluster back on the original branch, I figured out if I smoked the branch it helped to keep that from happening. I use Treager pellets for fuel so the branch ends up smelling like beef jerky after a few puffs?? seemed to work pretty good. Also I added at least 2 drawn frames to each box and a feeder with 1:1 to help keep them from bailing on me.... So far so good.... As you can see from my nice white suit I am a newb....
View attachment 10279


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## G3farms (Jun 13, 2009)

what would happen????????hhhhhmmmmm

Well........
Both swarms could go into the same box and separate themselves by using the comb/foundation as a divider.
The queens could duke it out with one winner and forces combine.
One or both swarms could abscond.

Who knows, I always refer back to rule number one.......Bees are bees and do as they please!


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

well, they have 3 frames of drawn comb and a feeder, so, they can do as they please, *except abscond*.............Please bees dont abscond... :no: ........lol..........


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