# Swarm help!



## Caroline25411 (Apr 23, 2014)

Ok so let me start off with I am 8 months pregnant so daring tree climbing is out. I have two swarms in my bee yard area I don't know what I did wrong I just split the hive I thought would swarm to prevent it but I guess that didn't work. One swarm was low to the ground and I cut the branch and shook it into a nuc. I have never delt with a swarm before so I hope that was ok. The other is about 20' up in a cherry tree. Hubby won't be home till tonight he could top the tree but would that hurt the bees? Should I hit the tree with something to shake them loose? J don't know what to do :-(


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## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

Maybe it's not the end of the world if they run off the join the circus? Always good to help with the wild populations. Sorry!
Otherwise, you could place a swarm trap, a nuc or a box and put a lure/lemon grass oil on it and maybe they will choose that for their new home.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

If you have water close try hosing them down. They won't stay on the limb long before they make up their mind where they want to be and once that happens the only way to keep them is to hive them and plug them in there with feed for a few days.

Wade


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

You did good shaking them into the Nuc. They should be fine. The one up high should just be left alone till some one more capable can climb a ladder and do that cut the branch carry them down and shake in a hive or a nuc.

I have had them so High my 24 foot ladder and 16 foot pole bucked would not reach them. Used a 12 gauge shot gun to shoot the branch off. When it fell it landed right on top of the hive I had set in hopes of catching them.
They stayed in that hive too.


 Al


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## Forest (Oct 14, 2010)

alleyyooper said:


> Used a 12 gauge shot gun to shoot the branch off. When it fell it landed right on top of the hive I had set in hopes of catching them.
> They stayed in that hive too.
> 
> 
> Al


:shocked: ...Get out...


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

Sometimes ya gotta think outside the box....


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## Caroline25411 (Apr 23, 2014)

Eeek my hubby would have liked the shot gun idea good thing he isn't into reading forums and I'm not telling lol. Ended up letting the small swarm go off on its own the bigger one in the nuc escaped when I ran to the store :-( I was pretty bummed but then two days later I found another swarm. How many times can two gives swarm geez this one did not get away I put it in a deep hive with some drawn comb stuffed the entrance with grass and put on a top feeder. Looks like they are going to stay yaya! I got into one of the hives that had swarmed and there are queen cells no queen that I saw. One supercedure cell and 3 or so swarm cells. I have honey supers on this hive and one is 3/4 full not capped the other is starting to be drawn what should I do?


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## WildPrGardens (Mar 8, 2014)

Don't really _need_ to do anything.

Sounds likes things are progressing naturally.

*But*, if you want more hives and have the equipment handy go ahead and do a split.

Just put a frame with 2 or 3 of the queen cells into your nuc with covering bees.
Add a frame with capped honey, one uncapped, one they're drawing out and one of capped brood.
Shake in more bees off of brood frames.
Close up entrance for three days but with ventilation.
If you can, put a jar of syrup on top, and set in shade.

Goodluck


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## johng (Feb 14, 2009)

If you have other hives you can put one frame of open brood in with the swarm and it will almost always keep them in the hive. They won't normally leave that brood.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I can see most of ya can't think out side of the box. 
Here is a swarm lets just for the sake of trying to teach ya'll some thing they are 35 feet up in a tree.



Your tallest ladder is 22 feet So how can you get the swarm down. A 12 gauge shot gun with a tight choke and any size shot seems to work. At 35 feet even cylinder bore doesn't spread a bunch either.Down in the lower right hand corner you can see where the branch goes to the trunk of the tree. Follow that branch about 3 feet away from the swarm take aim and shoot. Usually the branch will be chopped off if you did your part in aiming correctly and the branch isn't to big in diameter. The weight of the bees on the end of that branch will help it fall and the bees normally hang in that ball as it falls. Once it hits the ground quickly pick it up and shake it into the hive. I normal figure out where it is going to land and place the hive there for it to land on.
I have had bigger branches that took 3 shots to get down and the bees stayed with the branch.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

Al I see nothing wrong with your way ,, it gets the job done and nothing hurt ,, yea a branch gets cut,, but you would have cut it any way so whats the dif ....


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## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

k9 said:


> Sometimes ya gotta think outside the box....


+ + + + + + 
Sometimes you have to think outside the box,

to actually GET THEM IN THE BOX!


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## HTWannabee (Jan 19, 2007)

OK, Alleyyooper is now my hero. I will be telling everyone I know about this!:rock:


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

After the shot gun swarm I sat down and made my brain smoke trying to figure out a different method in case it happened again.
What I came up with is a telescoping paint roller pole (18ft.) about $35.00 HD or Lowe's. 25 feet of clear plastic hose to start out with taped to the pole. I have since bought more hose and made a coupler out of the next size bigger.


This swarm was about 28 feet up. Put 10 foot step ladder in the back of a pick up Extended the pole with the hose taped to the pole and sucked them in to the hive with the bee vac.




 Al


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