# Missed a swarm with my nuc/trap



## shannonswyatt (May 7, 2012)

You should read Seeley's research on swarm behavior, it is very interesting, not boring at all (even if you are not into bees). The scouts "vote" on the locations. Your box probably never even had a ballot. They may have come up with the location that evening and headed there first thing in the morning. If you could have gotten a bit of them in your box you might have had a chance. If your box would have been there before they left their home you may have got them as well.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Try this next time. Place a drawn frame next to the swarm. They will march right onto the frame. Do this with all the frames. Chances are the queen will migrate to the frames as well.
Once you have a bunch of bee covered frames in the trap, the rest will follow.
That is how I got my last swarm 19' off the ground. Details on our page below.


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## Rick 1456 (Jun 22, 2010)

I tried that a while back. Didn't work for me either. Most swarms cluster close to the parent hive hive and then leave to their new home which in my experience is at least 1/4 mile away. I think it is natures way of spacing them out. That's my opinion on why it didn't work. Too close to home. 
Rick


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## jwhiteker (Apr 1, 2013)

Mr.Beeman said:


> Try this next time. Place a drawn frame next to the swarm. They will march right onto the frame. Do this with all the frames. Chances are the queen will migrate to the frames as well.
> Once you have a bunch of bee covered frames in the trap, the rest will follow.
> That is how I got my last swarm 19' off the ground. Details on our page below.


I totally forgot to try that approach. I've even read about it. Duh! When I see bees, it's like getting Buck Fever. I get all excited and I forget the basic fundamentals of what I'm doing. I guess I'm still a new-bee. Thanks for the reminder. I will try that on the next one since my phone is ringing off the hook with swarm calls now.


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## jwhiteker (Apr 1, 2013)

Rick 1456 said:


> I tried that a while back. Didn't work for me either. Most swarms cluster close to the parent hive hive and then leave to their new home which in my experience is at least 1/4 mile away. I think it is natures way of spacing them out. That's my opinion on why it didn't work. Too close to home.
> Rick



Thanks Rick. That makes me feel a little less like an amateur. lol. Hey, I really enjoy your videos by the way. You have some good stuff on queen rearing. That's my goal when I get established in a year or two.


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## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

Do you know why bees don't do the same thing twice, don't do what you want them to, take your money and run (I mean fly)? Why they are so hard to understand? Because the colony is 90% female. You probably saw that one coming.

Two years ago I got a newly swarmed colony out of the cinder block garage wall at my son's house. Three weeks ago a new swarm moved into the wall of one of my supervisor's from work, garage wall situation exactly like my son's. Brand new move in. 

The first time I/we smoked and banged on the wall and watched them pour out, swarm around and land on a branch 15 feet away. Clipped the branch into a hive box with a couple frames and took them home. Shook them off the branch the next day and they set up home in the hive. 

3 weeks ago I did the exact same thing. They flew all over the place landing everywhere but not together, clusters everywhere. It was getting dark so I plugged the hole, left the box. Next day I taped on a cone and never expected anything more to come from it. Well I didn't get the queen but I ended up with 2 nice new drawn frames with bees, which I combined with another weak hive.

They rarely do what I hope or expect. I've learned that if they choose to stay or choose to move in to the box I've offered them, it's a gift. IMHO


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## jwhiteker (Apr 1, 2013)

Bevy, that is a great approach to beekeeping philosophy. I guess I should give the bees more respect and quit expecting them to act like textbook robots. I've already seen that they are unpredictable. 

I released a queen tonight because there were dead bees blocking the exit of the queen cage that arrived with my package. I'm glad I decided to check it within a few days. So, I decided to pull the screen off the queen cage and I just knew that I saw her fly off. Luckily, I was holding the cage directly over the hive and after searching frames for a bit, I located her, luckily. My next issue is solving the crazy comb they are building because I made the rookie mistake of using wax foundations and they weren't fastened well enough, so they got warm, sagged, and fell out of the frames. So, I think I'm going to pull all the wax tomorrow and let them do all natural comb. I don't have time or money to order more foundation. This beekeeping thing has broken my wallet.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

JW,
I've seen the bucks in your part of the US. I don't blame you at all for getting buck fever (probably happens a lot, right?)! Kansas has some MONSTERS.


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