help with non co-operative swarm

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30-07-2016, 11:16 AM
saskia

help with non co-operative swarm

hi - all help welcomed please.
i have caught many swarms over the years, and mostly they do what they are supposed to- given time, either they pretty much all go into the box/nuc I've shaken them into, or they pretty much all don't .
BUT, i went to a swarm yesterday evening, - lodged in the fork of an apple tree, so difficult to shake. I got a good lot of them into a poly nuc with some frames in it, and left them to settle. fairly sure there was a queen in the box, as there was a lot of machine in, and fanning/nasonov on the outside. however, when i went back later in the evening, and disappointingly there was quite a sizeable cluster back in the tree. i smoked a lot, and went back this am. cant persuade the last lot off. the garden owners are patient, but probably having just moved in, quite want to enjoy their garden, without bees. i was wondering about spraying tree with something? air freshener? to disperse last lot. is it at all possible that there is another queen there? it's not a huge swarm, kind of late. don't know if it could have been 2 virgins in a caste? any ideas/suggestions welcome. thanks
s
30-07-2016, 02:42 PM
saskia

turns out they just needed time- message from garden owner to say they all seem to be out of the tree now.
30-07-2016, 06:08 PM
gavin

Quote:

Originally Posted by saskia

turns out they just needed time- message from garden owner to say they all seem to be out of the tree now.

Nice to see the quality of contributors on here - answering their own questions :).

Time heals most things.

Is it the case that some bees get more reluctant to leave a spot the longer the bees have been there? I sometimes end up heavily smoking the epicentre of the swarm settling spot and even brush the bees there with (gloved) fingers to unsettle them. You can often get most to follow the scent trail to the nearby temporary home but often a hardcore remain. Tricky if you've travelled some distance and you really want to get it all over with. I do have some BeeQuick in the cupboard but never remember to take it with me - and would be reluctant to spray it on bees anyway.

If the swarm had settled on a trunk (or fence post or lamp post) I often use a sheet of paper to gently slice the swarm off, using the rest of the sheet as a chute. It helps to get the maximum number into the box first time with minimal disturbance.