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Offline tedh

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First swarm ever!
« on: April 16, 2016, 05:33:46 pm »
Caught this swarm today!




We put it in a deep with 5 drawn frames and 5 frames of foundation.   We did put a queen excluder on the bottom just to be sure they stay.  The plan is to make 2 nucs out of it when they get going good.  Ted
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Offline tedh

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2016, 06:02:56 pm »
I think we got the queen but it was a pretty ugly capture.  Flying by the seat of our pants kind of thing.  We dropped them in my bee tool box (from Beez Needz!), propped the lid with a stick and by the time we were done with inspections in that yard they had almost all (15 to 20 bees still not in) went into the box.  Dumping them into the deep was also kind of ugly but I just checked and they seem to have moved in well (the ones that missed the box that is).  I'm wondering, should I slide a frame of brood/eggs in there also?  Thanks,  Ted
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Offline Jen

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2016, 07:05:56 pm »
Ted! That Is So Funny!  :D  Good story here, short and sweet.. I mean ugly. I so get the ugly stuff, I don't know how my bees have survived me to tell ya the truth. Happy for your first swarm Ted  8)
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Offline Perry

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2016, 07:22:15 pm »
Nice catch. If you have frames of drawn comb, and the excluder on the bottom, I wouldn't worry too much about the frame of brood. If no excluder I would say yes, a frame of brood wouldn't hurt.
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Offline CBT

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2016, 07:36:30 pm »
Would not a queen that has been slimed down to fly be small enough to go through an excluder?
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Offline tedh

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2016, 07:41:14 pm »
I thought that too but saw it suggested here on the forum, figured I'd at least try.  Ted
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Offline CBT

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2016, 07:43:51 pm »
Is this forum great or what :yes:
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Offline apisbees

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2016, 07:47:31 pm »
They do slim down but not to many slim down to the diameter of a worker bee.
I take it that the swarm came from your own yard? If you go into the hive that issued the swarm you will have cells that are already capped to make the extra nuc from. Even if you only make them with 2 frames for now, to get the queens mated it is a good practice to try to get more than just the one queen from the swarmed hive mated. It anything happens to her you will have a backup queen ready to but into the hive.
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Offline tedh

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2016, 07:58:33 pm »
Thanks apis.  We went through the hives in that yard and saw 3 of the 4 queens.  Only found 1 queen cell in the hive we didn't see the queen in. It was capped and in the middle of the frame.  That hive was packed with bees too.  I found all that odd.  Ted
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2016, 09:11:36 pm »
That is a bit odd, BUT, its WAY early here for swarming...   So basically.. You have the right to say your an OUTSTANDING beekeeper..  Not only did they survive the winter, but they swarmed before the first dandelion popped!
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Offline Zweefer

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2016, 10:17:18 pm »
Well done Ted!
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2016, 04:41:04 pm »
That was close! Dandelions have popped!
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Offline tedh

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #12 on: April 18, 2016, 05:26:49 pm »
How long should I leave the queen excluder on?  Thanks, Ted
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Offline Perry

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #13 on: April 18, 2016, 05:54:48 pm »
Till you see eggs or young brood. Once that happens the bees won't abandon it.
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Offline tedh

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #14 on: April 18, 2016, 06:03:16 pm »
Thanks Perry!
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Offline MGoodman

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #15 on: May 03, 2016, 05:37:28 pm »
Name's MIKE.  New to forum.  2nd year beekeeping.  Lost 3 hives over winter.  Got 2 new packages.  Waiting on a nuc.

I had a lost queen or two from 2 packages.  [I've requeened the packages.] One of my packages packages raised out a queen that never laid.  Can't finder her. 

To the swarm issues ...

I put out two 10-frame deeps with several drawn, some foundation, some bares with comb at top.
Treated with SWARM COMMANDER. 
GOT A SWARM!!!

1) Did a RAISED queen split on the hive?  Did I just luck out on the swarm? 
2) Short of looking for a marked queen from the package, what's the likelihood my queen bolted and took some workers with her?
3)  I'd like to move the trap 30 feet close to my other hives ... do I need to close up for 3 days with a hivetop feeder? 
4) Do I take replace any frames with drawn or do I let them do their thing? 
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Offline Perry

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #16 on: May 03, 2016, 06:55:37 pm »
Hey Mike, welcome to the forum. :welcome:
I was just down in NC for a couple days and the bees there are apparently swarming like crazy this year, so who knows. Maybe one of the queens from a package left with some bees, or maybe bees from somewhere near you showed up.
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Offline apisbees

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Re: First swarm ever!
« Reply #17 on: May 04, 2016, 07:11:39 am »
Yes Welcome to the forum Mike. What Parry said. How long ago was the package hived? I may be time for another inspection to see that they both have laying queens and are expanding.
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