Bad advise

[iddee]

You can checkerboard the honey supers, or the lower frames outside the brood nest. Any empty going in the brood nest should be outside the last frame with brood. An empty foundation frame between two brood frames may get you queen cells. A foundationless frame in the brood nest may or may not work, I don't know.

[Jen]

Iddee ""Any empty going in the brood nest should be outside the last frame with brood. An empty foundation frame between two brood frames may get you queen cells""

I've been wondering about this! I did follow some suggestions to put a frame smack in between the brood chamber in hopes of getting wax pulled and filled. Can't remember if it was pulled or just foundation. I'de better check ~  Thanks Iddee

[LazyBkpr]

It works better with foundation-less, but when the brood frames are separated it takes more bees to cover the frames and regulate the temps/feed etc...  so when I add empty foundation-less frames IN the brood chamber I make sure there are enough bees to cover those frames. When I do feel confident in splitting the brood chamber they do not have a wall between the frames of brood, only an empty space that needs filled with comb. They go into overdrive to fill that space.

[Jen]

Brilliant! I see this scenario as a blanket coming down instead of a wall being put up!

Fist Pirate Scott ~ 

[LazyBkpr]

Bumb?    No, no... PIRATE!   

[Jen]

Whoops let me fix that 

[Gypsi]

Mediocre advice: To keep a swarm in a box put them in with a screened bottom board, deep full of empty frames, and a big feed jar on top, screw the entrance shut. Don't give them an opening until they are taking sugar water, after that they will stay.

Actually they need to have taken enough sugar water to get the queen a place to lay, Late afternoon I opened the swarm hive 2 bees wide and the 6 lb swarm was gone by 11 the next morning.

Or going back to Charlie B's good advice: give them food and brood and leave them alone, they won't leave brood. That has always worked actually. 

[Bakersdozen]

Mediocre advice: To keep a swarm in a box put them in with a screened bottom board, deep full of empty frames, and a big feed jar on top, screw the entrance shut. Don't give them an opening until they are taking sugar water, after that they will stay.

Actually they need to have taken enough sugar water to get the queen a place to lay, Late afternoon I opened the swarm hive 2 bees wide and the 6 lb swarm was gone by 11 the next morning.

Or going back to Charlie B's good advice: give them food and brood and leave them alone, they won't leave brood. That has always worked actually.

Excellent Gypsi!  I like the mediocre advice followed by the correct advice!  Nice touch.
Actually, I received a phone call from a novice beekeeper.  He had caught a swarm, twice, but couldn't get them to stay.  He was wondering what he was doing wrong.  As I have never successfully caught a swarm, I referred him on to a seasoned swarm catcher.  I figured admitting my lack of experience was the honorable thing to do.

[Jen]

Gypsi- "6 lb swarm was gone by 11 the next morning. Or going back to Charlie B's good advice: give them food and brood and leave them alone, they won't leave brood. That has always worked actually.

Geez! a 6 pound swarm! That's a lot of swarm energy there, like trying to hold back elephant

I did all of the suggestions to hold the swarm in, screen bottom board, queen above the excluder, brood, food. Worked pretty good!

 




 

[Gypsi]

It was a massive swarm and somewhere in a tree or someone's fascia and soffit it will make a very nice hive. The bees are a bit testy though, that's a Bee Weavers Queen in there....

They were building comb til I opened the entrance 2 bees wide. don't know how long the departure took.  I did not do the queen excluder or the brood, next time I guess I will.

Especially since it got your bees to stay...

Meantime I have 2 hives for sale. Keeping 4 here and feeding and trying to prevent fighting is not working out well....