>I decided at this point that all of the new equipment which I was using
was not scented enough....

Swarms captured around here are sometimes put onto new foundation
intentionally for the purpose of drawing out combs. Generally, they do
stay.

>You decided the swarm stayed put because the queen finally produced enough
pheremones to keep the bees home after they cleaned up the honey you
smeared around!? POPPYCOCK! Any conclusions you make about smeared honey
and queen pheremone are YOUR conclusions, you have NO IDEA what the bees
were "thinking".

Or if one were inclined to pedantry,  ‘Post hoc, ergo propter hoc’ could be
invoked.

A few years ago I received a call that one of my hives had swarmed onto a
low branch of a nearby tree. I had just added a deep super of drawn comb to
the parent hive a few days earlier. I drove out and got the bees with a
stepladder. We removed the super from the first hive and set it on a bottom
board next to the original hive. Then we shook the swarm into that as a new
hive. The next day I was called back and told another swarm had gone into
the same tree. When I got there I found the new hive was empty. Did they
leave because both hives had the same odor or was it just too close to the
original hive?  I took the bees to another location in the same box and
this time they stayed put.

Regards,
Dick Allen

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::