On Wed, 1 Jun 2005, david flathman wrote:

> after hiving a swarm, what is the best way to make sure they stay.
> the last swarm i hived left the next day.
>
> if i keep the bees shut in the box how long until they will stay.
> they just have bare pierco frames.
> will they starve or dehydrate in 12-24-36-48 hours??

Do you at least have a syrup feeder in there for them, so that they
have something to eat?  They aren't going to be in any shape
to draw out bare Pierco if they don't have any food so that they can make
wax.  They'll certainly starve in pretty short order if you shut them
in without *anything*.  And, if they can't draw comb, then they can't
raise brood, and in that case, why should they hang around?

I haven't had any trouble with hiving swarms, but then again, so far I've
been able to start them off with a full medium super of drawn comb, which
lets them get off to a good start right away.  I also give them at least
half a gallon of sugar syrup immediately, which usually gets eaten in a
day or two, so that certainly helps.


--
Tim Eisele
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