View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
AlchemyBees Guard Bee
Joined: 05 Jan 2013 Posts: 54 Location: Newberg, Oregon USA
|
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:12 pm Post subject: Bees won't stay in swarm box |
|
|
I had a good sized swarm on a bush. I put the box under the swarm and shook them in. Got most of them in. No sooner were they in that they all started running out. In no time they were all in the air.
Then they landed about 3 feet off the ground on another bush. I moved the swarm box right up to the swarm. They didn't move in so I thought maybe another box would be better so I stacked it on top of the other, right up next to the swarm clump. I couldn't get a shake because the bees are inside a thick bush.
The bees spent the night outside both boxes and didn't go in. Both boxes have LGO and are the optimum size for happy swarms. But they don't agree.
Any ideas to get this swarm into a box. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Dexter's shed Scout Bee
Joined: 16 May 2014 Posts: 307 Location: Grays, Essex, UK
|
Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
maybe the first time you didn't get the queen, hence they all left, bees like to go up not down, so it's always better to place an upside down box above them, this also offers a little protection from rain/sun, tape some old comb inside if you have any, but if by the next day they have not moved up on their own, smoking them will get them up into the box.
I know some don't like using smoke, but its a way to get them in, then slowly turn the box the right way, add the lid and try to secure in the same place, with just a small entrance open for foragers to return |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Quality Top Bar Hives by Andrew Vidler
|
Conserving wild bees
Research suggests that bumble bee boxes have a very low success rate in actually attracting bees into them. We find that if you create an environment where first of all you can attract mice inside, such as a pile of stones, a drystone wall, paving slabs with intentionally made cavities underneath, this will increase the success rate.
Most bumble bee species need a dry space about the size a football, with a narrow entrance tunnel approximately 2cm in diameter and 20 cm long. Most species nest underground along the base of a linear feature such as a hedge or wall. Sites need to be sheltered and out of direct sunlight.
There is a spectacular display of wild bee hotels here
More about bumblebees and solitary bees here
Information about the Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)
|
|
Barefoot Beekeeper Podcast
|
|
|
|
4th Edition paperback now available from Lulu.com
|
site map
php. BB © 2001, 2005 php. BB Group
View topic - Bees won't stay in swarm box - Natural Beekeeping Network Forum
|
|