Late swarm

[Papakeith]

Had a swarm in the raspberry trellis today.  They found a new home in my first top bar hive.

[apisbees]

They have a lot of work to do if the top bare hive has no drawn comb for them to start laying and raising brood in And they need to draw and store for their winter supply at least in a lang you could easily give them all the winter stores and drawn comb so she could max out her laying for the winter bee population.
Sorry Keith but unless you you have lots of support for the TBH There is not enough time left for them to make a run at surviving the winter. I say this because you stated it is your 1st TBH and it doesn't look like it has had bees in it before. At this time of year I would be looking at what hive of mine needs a boost or requeened, and be thinking about combining as soon as the swarm was settled, the queen was laying and has a couple of frames of brood to be moved with. with this in mind I would place her next to the hive where I she will be transferred to.

[Papakeith]

Thank you for the advise.  I agree with your assessment, it is most probably too late for this swarm to do much of anything this year especially in a TBH.  It is a new hive with new bars.  Obviously I hadn't thought this out very well.  I'll start working up plan 'B'.

When you say lots of support for the TBH what are you referring to? more bees, more comb? 

[apisbees]

If you had another 1 or 2 well established TBH you could pull a couple of frames from each and give to this swarm. You could sacrifice a few frames of honey that you would have crushed and strained for there winter feed. All things you will most likely end up doing. for this swarm if they are to survive.

[apisbees]

Did they swarm out of one of your hives? If so you know what one? Keep an eye on this hive She may have to go back in if something happens to the virgin Queen and she is lost.
The swarm will have mostly old bees most of which will be dead by mid November so over the next 3 weeks all the replacement winter bees need to have their beginning. So the queen needs to get at least 5 frames of brood laid.
What ever the size of the cluster is the queen will lay to 75% of its size. Over the next 3 week until the brood starts emerging the population will decrease. If it gets cool the bees will cluster tighter and brood can get chilled.
So lets say the3 swarm covered 8 frames, at this time the colony can support the queen in laying 6 frames of brood. But in 3 weeks when the new bees start to emerge you may only have 6 1/2 frames  of bees left that has only been able to support 4 1/2 frames to being born. and a cold night could cause the colony to cluster tighter and another frame of brood could be lost.
Over the fallowing 21 day cycle of brood the emerging young will just  keep up with accelerated die off of the older swarm bees.
it wont be until thee 3rd cycle of brood that you will notice much growth in the colony but by then we will be near the end of October and by then definitely cool nights, some frost, and the colony, no or reduced nectar flow will have caused the bees to cut back on brood rearing.
After the queen has started laying well giving the swarm a frame of mostly dark capped brood from a colony that can afford to loose it will help this swarm out immensely.

[LazyBkpr]

I cant add much more than Apis.  Same thoughts here for getting a swarm ready to winter in RI..

   If I was DEAD SET on wintering those bees, I might consider cutting out a frame of brood from a deep and using the hair clips that sort of look like queen clips to hang it from a top bar, and possibly doing the same with a couple frames of empty drawn comb, With the empty frames you could WAX them to the top bars.. pour melted wax on the bar and STICK the empty comb to the wax and let it cool.., and then trickle feed, meaning, feed slowly to get them drawing more and fixing up the comb you added. Once going well, shaking in a frame of nurse bees from open brood...
   As stated, remember that you are weakening the hives your taking resources from so some caution is advised..  beyond that, I have never run a TBH so cant add any more assistance...
   Let us know what you decide to do!

[Papakeith]

A brief update. 
The swarm was most likely issued from one of my own colonies.  I haven't found which one yet, but I'm down to 6 that it could be. 

The hiving of this colony was definitely a knee jerk reaction.  Not well thought out and with no consideration for the time of year.  Thank you all for the reality check that I needed.  math doesn't lie.  More likely than not; It is simply too late in the year for them to have a successful run at it.  I certainly don't want to weaken a hive so that this experiment has a better chance. 

As it stands right now I am going to keep them in the TBH for the next week or so.  I was able to put together two bars of empty comb for the queen to start in on without having to wait for comb to be built before she starts laying.

If I come across a colony that is in need of bees or a queen I will move them around to give my other, established hives a better chance.

thanks again.