Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[Martin White]

I have a swarm in a Top Bar Swarm Trap for the last 4 days. I intend to transfer it to a TBH in about 4-5 days time. The TBH site will be 100 Meters+ from the site of the swarm trap. Will I need to move the TBH off site 3-4 miles for a few weeks, and then bring it back, or can I transfer the Top Bars + Bees to the TBH on its current site without fear of the Colony absconding.

Martin[/u]

[Martin White]

I am uncertain about what to do. Any advice ?

[Barbara]

Hi Martin

Congrats on attracting a swarm to your bait hive.

It is possible to transfer them the short distance without taking them away and back but you need to make them re orientate to the new location.

What I would do is fasten them in on an evening and move the bait hive and sit it right in front of the TBH they are to be moved into, ideally with the entrances facing in the same direction and at the same height. Once you have it in situ, get a handful of grass bend it in half and twist it and stuff it in the entrance hole and place a branch of foliage across the entrance to the bait hive. The bees will have to chew/push at the grass to get out and then clamber through the foliage and this should alert them to the fact that things have changed and they need to re orientate. I would leave them like this for a few days.... check they have managed to remove the grass twist after the first day..... before you do the actual transfer of bars to the new hive. Be on the look out for a cluster developing at the old site particularly during the first couple of days and be prepared to collect them on an evening and dump them at the bait hive entrance. They should get the message after a day or two.

Then on a warm still day, do the transfer to the new hive and remove the bait hive. Be very careful not to drop the queen on the ground during the transfer..... it is best to lift all the bars with comb on them at once at this early stage to minimise the disruption to them and be careful to check for any brace comb to the sides before you lift. Even after just a few days, the comb will be soft and probably heavy with nectar so needs to be handled carefully and moving all as one means that the cluster will help support it. To move all the bars together, screw a couple of laths parallel to each other, across the top bars ensuring that all top bars are secured to them and then lift by the laths.

Good luck and I hope it all goes smoothly

Barbara

[Martin White]

Thanks Barbara, for the detailed guide, l will let you know how I get on.
Martin

[pavol]

I can testify to the technique with screwing a lath transversely, I did it a couple of weeks ago with one lath cca. 10cm wide screwed into each top bar with a little screw. Worked perfectly! Just pre-drill the lath before in the interval corresponding to your bar width and delicately tighten the screws in situ. Maybe it is a bit exaggerated and you can lift all the top bars just with a pair of spare bars like Phil does in his instruction video, but for a novice like me, this felt safer