Swarm +1 -1 then +1 again

[Melbourne12]

We got a call on Wednesday evening from the local Beekeepers Association.  They'd been called to remove a swarm, and could we house it?  Since the hive was ready and waiting, they were introduced via a sheet up to the hive entrance.

Alas, the queen must have wandered up onto the outside of the hive.  The bees were still there on Thursday morning, but by afternoon they'd gone.

Which was a bit sad.  :(

But never fear.   9pm Thursday evening, another call, and anotehr swarm! (Maybe it was the same one, of course.)  So we now have a swarm housed on the BKA quarantine apiary.  We'll visit them on Saturday morning and give them some feed.

So we now have two hives!  :)

[Melbourne12]

[Robert_Brenchley]

Swarms do desert occasionally. The best way to prevent this is to give them a frame of brood from an existing hive, as bees won't normally desert brood. It's not normally necessary though. Did they have any drawn comb, or just foundation? Comb tends to hold them better, but 95% of the time they stay in whatever you put them in.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I found a swarm in one of my empty hives today. It's not unexpected as I noticed several weeks ago that strange bees had staked it out. It's already got eggs on a couple of frames, so it's a 'prime swarm' headed by an onld queen. the ones I had last year were 'casts', headed by virgins which took a couple of weeks before they started laying.

[Melbourne12]

Swarms do desert occasionally. The best way to prevent this is to give them a frame of brood from an existing hive, as bees won't normally desert brood. It's not normally necessary though. Did they have any drawn comb, or just foundation? Comb tends to hold them better, but 95% of the time they stay in whatever you put them in.

Only foundation, I'm afraid.  Because we're newbies, that's all we've got.

I found a swarm in one of my empty hives today. It's not unexpected as I noticed several weeks ago that strange bees had staked it out. It's already got eggs on a couple of frames, so it's a 'prime swarm' headed by an onld queen. the ones I had last year were 'casts', headed by virgins which took a couple of weeks before they started laying.

Serendipity!  :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

Once you've got drawn comb, treasure it! I melted a boxful of nasty old stuff over the winter, and I'm not wondering whether I did the right thing, as if I get a couple of swarms over the next month I'll run short. Once I get some money from the exam marking I'll be able to buy in more foundation.