# Attracted bees to our new hive?



## heavyrebel

Hello all...we are getting into bees, and my wife has been trying to attract them to our new box. Well, yesterday there were about a 1000 bees around in in the hive, eating the sugar water and loving the lemongrass. We refilled the container and could see a good mass of them inside. Early evening we needed to remove a piece of wood that had been left under the lid (opps) and so we took it off. Inside were still about 200 bees (i guess) and they seemed to be bedded down for the night...is this normal? Are they making our hive a new home or are they just eating free food from the buffet?! 

Regardless, It was incredible to see and very exciting. My parents had hives, and I am really looking forward to this next adventure on our farm!


----------



## unregistered168043

When you see alot of bees in the hive, cover it with a sheet for a day or so.


----------



## heavyrebel

the entire hive, like, entrance and all?


----------



## BarbadosSheep

They really don't have any reason to take up residence in your hive if there is no brood or queen there. They might.....but chances are they won't. They have no queen...they are not fertile so they can't even raise their own queen and increase their numbers. Worker bees have not been mated and can only lay drones, no queens or worker bees. Now if you can attract an entire swarm there (queen and all), you'd be set. Honestly...if you have an empty hive, you'd be much better off buying bees and a queen to start it up.


----------



## unregistered168043

heavyrebel said:


> the entire hive, like, entrance and all?


Yes, you want to trap them inside for long enough until they make it their home.

But without a queen you'll just get a drone hive. You might want to order a queen and put it in the hive in its cage, then trap the bees in there. Hopefully they will rescue the queen and establish a hive.


----------



## indypartridge

Darntootin said:


> Yes, you want to trap them inside for long enough until they make it their home.
> 
> But without a queen you'll just get a drone hive. You might want to order a queen and put it in the hive in its cage, then trap the bees in there. Hopefully they will rescue the queen and establish a hive.


Not likely. Adding a queen to a couple hundred trapped foragers is a long shot at best, and more than likely a waste of $20 or so on a queen. A colony needs nurse bees. Although research has shown that foragers can, in some cases, revert to performing nurse bee duties, with a population of only foragers (older bees), they won't likely live long enough for the queen to create a complete brood cycle.


----------



## carolinagirl

indypartridge said:


> Not likely. Adding a queen to a couple hundred trapped foragers is a long shot at best, and more than likely a waste of $20 or so on a queen. A colony needs nurse bees. Although research has shown that foragers can, in some cases, revert to performing nurse bee duties, with a population of only foragers (older bees), they won't likely live long enough for the queen to create a complete brood cycle.


I agree. Starting a hive with a new queen and a few hundred bees will not thrive. The numbers are just too low. Either capture an entire swarm or buy a package of bees with a queen.


----------



## alleyyooper

Better than buying a package is to buy a NUC from your region. Waiting for a swarm in this day and age can be some thing that never happens. 
Look to your state bee keeping assioctiomn for a club near you where you can more than likly find some one with a nuc for sale or sell you one.

 Al


----------



## johng

There are lots of swarms in Southeast Fl. But, they also have Africanized bees too. I think you have a good chance of attracting a swarm to your hive. But, not by feeding the bees at the hive. Put some lemon grass oil or a commercial swarm attractant in the hive and hope for the best. It would be a good idea to requeen any newly caught swarm also. Just to be on the safe side. Your swarm season should be getting under way. We have already had a few swarms here in North Fl.


----------

