# Catching swarms in 8-frame medium(s)



## wanderyr (Feb 11, 2012)

My neighbor has a feral hive on his property and says it throws a swarm every year. I want to go get it when it happens this time! I've never caught swarms before (other than bait hives), and I have some swarm-catching questions...

I understand that swarming bees are prepared to quickly make lots of wax. What happens if you dump a swarm into a double deep hive that is already fully drawn? Do they start to draw out supers right away, or do they wait until they fill in the lower boxes with brood and food?

Or is it better to just give them foundation and let them draw comb like they're expecting to?

Thanks


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

Put them in a single deep to start with, add a couple of drawn frames and the rest extra-waxed, but undrawn, foundation. I found adding a frame with a bit of brood and some honey useful right from the start. Be sure NOT to add the queen from the donor hive. The frame of brood anchors the bees immediately. The drawn frames give the swarm queen a place to get busy right away - and egg laying strengthens her pheromones which also gets the swarm well organized. The undrawn frames capture the extraordinary drive of swarm bees to make wax for you. Having a supply of newly drawn frames will serve you in good stead in lots of ways.

Watch them closely because if you are on a flow they will quickly fill the first box and need another. (And could swarm again, if over crowded.) Again I would bait the new box with a frame (or two) of drawn comb and the rest undrawn and let them keep on doing their thing.

If afterwards the flow starts slowing down you can pull out undrawn frames and replace them with drawn ones so they can start to fill with honey for the winter. With luck you will have gained a dozen or more newly drawn frames, which will serve you well. I would put the previously-drawn ones in the center so they will end end wintering on them, as I have read hat bees winter better on older comb.

I hived a swarm on June 17th last year with a medium frame of brood (in a deep box - what can I say - it was the first one I could lay my hands on and I was dead tired having collected them from high the trees) and a partially drawn deep frame of open nectar and some pollen. The other eight frames were new Pierco all plastic ones. Within 10 days they needed a second box, and I took pity on them and gave them 10-frames of new, but extra-waxed by hand, Piercos. In the end they drew out that box, too, and then drew and filled six frames of the third deep before all was said and done by the end of the season. So I got 24+ newly drawn and filled deep frames out of them. The hive weighed well over 160 lbs by late October, and they did very well over the winter on the strength of that. Not bad for some free bees.

Enj.


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## wanderyr (Feb 11, 2012)

Thanks Enj, that's very helpful 

It sounds like I'll go with a single deep then! And gain some comb out of it.

But now you've got me thinking. Most of my hives are all 8-frame mediums. I've been trying to get away from deeps. I was planning on catch the swarm in a deep because I figured they'd fill a medium _way_ too rapidly.

But say I used two medium boxes, with 2 drawn frames and the rest foundation. Do you think it would be better to put the drawn frames next to each other in one box, or stacked one over the other (in the same column)?

Or is this just a bad plan, with the bees making a mess out of two levels of foundation? 

Thanks again.
-wanderyr


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

Someone on here recommends an eight frame medium full of frames on top of an empty one.
Bill


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

wanderyr said:


> It sounds like I'll go with a single deep then! And gain some comb out of it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




swarms are primed and ready to make drawn comb, take advantage of that. I give swarms one single comb preferable with brood to anchor them....and the rest foundation. When the comb building slows, drop the empty drawn comb on them and watch them explode


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## dynemd (Aug 27, 2013)

As long as the swarm isn't too big you could begin in an 8 frame medium and then add another soon as they grow. If it is large put the two drawn frames in the middle of the bottom box. You've got to catch these bees first though. I would set up a trap as whiskers says, two 8 frame mediums with frames in the top with a cover and solid bottom board. Add some lemon grass oil and some propolis and some used brood comb about 25-50 yards away and wait. If you see them swarm and they don't go to the trap capture them and transfer to the trap. Good luck!


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

I don't use mediums so I am not familiar with them as swarm housing, but I see no reason they wouldn't eagerly draw out medium frames as well as deep ones. And if you use mediums, it would be a mistake - and a big waste of an opportunity -to let them draw anything else.

As far as number of boxes, I would give a medium-to-big swarm two boxes (medium-sized equipment, particularly if you are using 8-fame boxes) just to make sure they had a big enough space to think the cavity was suitable. Give them a few drawn frames (and one with a bit of brood) so her Majesty has some quick space and then let the bees go to town on the rest.

Just so you know, transferring capped brood, counteracts any beneficial effect of a short brood break you may be thinking a swarm could have regarding varroa. If you could find a donor frame with no capped brood that would be best, but I wouldn't worry too much about that (assuming you practice good varroa-hygiene all the time, anyway.)

Good luck, and good hunting! (You might also consider a trap-out to capture some of those feral bees.)

Enj.


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