Homeless bees

[sukis-dad]

I have two hives and had yet another swarm (a caste I think) from hive 1, which I caught in a box. Having nowhere to put it I asked an experienced beekeeper what to do and he said dump them on the floor in front of hive 2 and they will sort themselves out.
I thought this a bit strange as I thought they would fight - which they did. The caste bees then collected under the hive which has a mesh floor. I expected them to fly away or starve to death!
This happened on 19 May. They are still alive today 24 May and I don't know what to do with them.
Any ideas?

 

[For want of a better word]

Have had that happen... are they building comb~??

I carefully removed and placed in a Nuc box with 4 frames of undrawn foundation.
set to one side with opening at 90 degrees to hive where they were making home on mesh floor. Seemed happy with new home!
have not disturbed them for three weeks, but seem to be active, may have a peek at them tomorrow!

 

[Silly Bee]

I'd have kept them in the box and found another keeper who wanted some.

or

Reunited with a sheet of newspaper.

 

[For want of a better word]

Reunited with a sheet of newspaper.
you could try that...
Financial Times of course!!

 

[winmag270]

I'd have kept them in the box and found another keeper who wanted some.

or

Reunited with a sheet of newspaper.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Call your local association, thery are bound to have someone who wants a swarm so they can come and take them away.
Brownie points for you!

 

[Chris Luck]

Reunited with a sheet of newspaper.

Reunite? Did you mean "Merge"?

Anyway, whatever the answer is to that, I would have kept them, some of my best colonies have grown from what looked hopeless and as has been mentioned, someone would have wanted them, especially as they are so expensive over there. Should still be possible to get them into something with frames, only a short job even if they have started to draw comb, just cut it of.

Chris

 

[sukis-dad]

Hi

I already have 3 nucs containing swarms and they are very doing well and I will unite them into my existing hives.
I did take a prime swarm to the bee meeting last week and no one wanted it. It seems everyone has had swarms this year.
No one has commented on the advice I was given regarding dumping them in front of a hive.
Thanks.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Dumping in front of existing hive is a (IMHO) quick but fairly poor option.

As mentioned previously uniting via a newspaper would seem to be more sensible, though you would ned to remove one of the queens first - but there again if you dont have a suitable box to put on top, then thats not really an option.

For the future I would suggest that you get a spare brood box at the very least, you will need it sometime.

 

[drstitson]

"I would suggest that you get a spare brood box at the very least, you will need it sometime"



you need at least double what you actually have occupied - eg for ASing.

plus always handy (essential?) to have one or two empty nucs with some frames of foundation (or even just starter strips).

 

[Chris Luck]

Dumping in front of existing hive?

Does that really need a comment?

How about finding a hollow tree? Apparently there are no "feral" bees in the UK according to some posters on here, so perhaps make a start....

.....or knock up a Warré or TBH.

Chris

 

[sukis-dad]

Hi
With the benefit of hindsight I should have left them to their own devices and maybe they would have found a home in the woods behind my house.
The hive they are under is only a brick height from a paving slab and very difficult to get at. Tried last night without any success. Will try again when the weather improves.
Thanks for your comments.