I'm a beginner and I got a call about a swarm. I live in eastern
Massachusetts. I got the swarm, in a manner of speaking, and have hived it,
but have a number of 'beginner' questions.
First a recap of what was done. Please comment on any corrections
regarding technique. It was a comedy of minor errors I expect, with more to
follow but I'm having the time of my life!
I arrived at about 10 am. with a cardboard box (no extra hive
available), a bed sheet, my outfit and tools that I store/carry in a 6
gallon galvanized "trash" can that has a handle and top. Poorly equipped to
say the least.
The swarm was about 20 feet up in a large spuce tree. My estimate
is about 6-8 pounds of bees. The homeowners had a extension pruning pole,
(what a break!). I was curious and excited, never having seen a swarm
before, and wanting to give it a go, though I was not fully prepared. Later
upon inspecting he bulk of the bees looked to be Italians with some darker
bees mixed in.
I decided to use the pole with the can attached and a pillow case
in the can. I pruned some little branches to get a clear shot at the bees.
I hoisted the can up under the swarn and gave it a good trust upward. 60%
if the bees went into the pillowcase and 10% fell down around me. The rest
were still attached to the branch or in the air.
I tied off the pillow case and place in in my car. I waited for the
bees to reform, got another pillow case and did the whole operation again.
I got about half of the remaining bees. I tied off the second pillow case
and tied it to a small step ladder. The flying bees soon were clustering on
the pillow case (100's of them).
I assumed at this point the queen was in the second pillowcase (not
yet verified. I waited a few minutes and then decided to place the second
bag with bees attached inside the first. (Not the best idea). I had better
than 95% of the bees at this point.
Drove home, less that 5 minutes, and realized upon getting home
that the inside second bag was probably overheating. I had no empty hive
parts ready so decide to temporarily place the bees in the two empty
screened package containers after first spraying the pillowcase with water
to cool them down. I placed the bees from the first pillow case in one
package, and the second in the other. The second group looked a little
sweaty and dopey. I placed the packages close to each other in the shade.
As it turns out the cover on package two had an opening and over the next
hour or so a large number got out and massed on the outside of the first
package along with the bees that didn't get into the packages.
Now was the queen in the first package? Was the queen originally on
the outside of the second pillowcase or in the first pillow case? I don't
know.
Now to get a hive ready. I have two hives, both with two deeps. One
is not as vigorus so I decided to borrow the second deep. It had foundation
that had barely been touched by the bees. I cobbled together a bottom board
and hive cover and planned to take one frame of uncapped brood from the
vigorous hive but under the momentum of wanting to get the bees hived I
didn't. A good plan but badly executed I think.
I placed a feeder box on top of the deep (another mistake here, I
should have removed a bunch on the frames first) and shook the bees into
the frames. I put the cover over the feeder box and let everything settle
down. My hives are arranged at the edge of a deck about 6 feet off the
ground so I didn't consider having the bees walk in. I think it would have
been a much better arrangement.
Later upon peeking under the cover the cluster was hanging from the
cover, not all down in the frames. That is the current state of the hive.
It is raining today so they are stuck for the moment in the hive. I rigged
up and entrance feeder to help them along.
Finally, at dusk, when I returned the pillow cases, and up in the
tree was a very small (about two fists in size) cluser. Was the queen still
in the tree?
Now the questions:
Will bees cluster even without a queen?
Will the bees left behind cluster back on the branch without a
queen?
How and when should I get the bees down in the brood chamber?
If I don't have the queen how will the bees behave?
If I don't have the queen what is the method for putting the bees
into my less vigorous hive?
Should I treat for Varroa or see if I have resitant bees. I assumed
the since I saw what seemed to be more than one race in the swarm that the
queen was a locally mated queen.
If I don't treat the swam hive am I putting my other two hives at
greater risk?
What medications should I supply.
The lessons I've learned are:
Have an extra bottom board, cover, and deep on standbye.
Purchase an extension pruning pole. I worked very well.
Bring my own pillow case or cases.
Have a spray bottle with my equipment for cooling the bees.
Bees overheat easily. Rethink what to do when the bees
cluster on the outside of the pillow case. Granted if I had the hive ready
I could have hived them right there.
Thanks in advance for any responses.
Jim Moore
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