# Anyone captured a secondary/after swarm?



## B52EW (Jun 3, 2013)

I captured a large swarm about ten days ago (probably one of my own hives). I placed a new box in the same location, and a few days later had another swarm, but this one was very small (maybe enough bees to cover one side of a medium frame). I moved this swarm to a nuc and looked for a queen but could not find one. I placed a third box into the same location (it was obviously desirable). However, I think the small hive left the nuc and returned to the swarm box after a day ...where I left it be. I'm postulating this small swarm might be a secondary swarm. I was going to leave it for another week in case there is a virgin queen attempting to mate. Our weather has been extremely nice for the entire period the swarm has been in the box and there are lots of drones in the hives. After the waiting period I was going put the small swarm into a mating nuc with some resources from other hives. Anyone had experience capturing and eventually hiving secondary swarms? Is my plan feasible? Thanks.


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

Last season I got a call about a swarm that the homeowners knew came out of a bee tree that bordered their property. Long story short, I collected three additional swarms in about a two week time frame. One was hanging on a branch, right above the entrance exit of the hive, and the others all were within 20 feet of the tree. Sounds like a feasible plan to me.


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

I put secondary swarms in nuc boxes, depending on the size of the swarm. If I have a frame of brood and a frame of honey/pollen, I will add them. Depending on the season, I will feed them or add drawn comb. Secondary swarms usually have virgins, sometimes more than one, so it takes longer for them to build up. If you have frames of capped brood, give them as many as you can to get them built up as fast as possible. You can also shake bees in front of the hive onto a board and they will walk into the hive and help build its population.(Be careful not to shake your queen off a frame)


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

I always had good luck when I leave the bees for a couple of weeks in the swarm trap then moving them into the final hive.
Secondary swarms do need alot of help to populate unless you plan on keeping them as a nuc hive to pull resouces from.


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## B52EW (Jun 3, 2013)

Thanks all. I looked in on the small swarm this morning...it is really small, less than 50 bees. I'll place in nuc with a frame of bees and some pollen/honey, feed, and see what happens. I have two other large swarms in traps, so it can't hurt to experiment with the small swarm.


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

B52EW said:


> Thanks all. I looked in on the small swarm this morning...it is really small, less than 50 bees. I'll place in nuc with a frame of bees and some pollen/honey, feed, and see what happens. I have two other large swarms in traps, so it can't hurt to experiment with the small swarm.


Less than fifty bees? I would call that, are you sure it's a swarm:lookout:


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## B52EW (Jun 3, 2013)

Opened the box early this morning...no queen. Must have been a group left over from an earlier swarm or gathering of rogue bees. Left them in front on another hive.


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## Eric Crosby (Jan 4, 2015)

One year out of 10 swarms that I caught only 2 were primary swarms. The rest were secondary or third, anyways with virgins. 50 bees sounds more like a mating swarm a weak one at that or the remnants of the primary swarm. For your own knowledge it would be with going through and seeing if you can locate the virgin queen if there is one. if there is not one it will be a short lived group of bees. 50 seems too few to me.


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## B52EW (Jun 3, 2013)

Thanks for the info.


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