My First Swarm

[Mark B.]

From the activity going on at one of my swarm traps it appears a swarm has taken up residence. There has been a lot of activity since last Wednesday. How long would you wait to open the trap to check things out? The trap is made up of 3 Nuc supers with 5 deep frames in it. If there is a good swarm in the trap when should I move it to a regular hive? Plus the bees are not aggressive at all when I am around the trap.

[Wally]

IF You mean 5 frames per super, you can wait as long as you want.

IF You meant 5 frames total in 3 supers, get them out ASAP. They will be building comb where there are no frames and you will be doing a cut out.

[Mark B.]

Thanks for the reply. I built the swarm boxes with 3 Nuc supers and deep frames. The spacing with the 5 frames are good. It has about 4 1/2 inches of open space between the bottom of the frames and the bottom of the box.

[Wally]

It will have about 1 1/2 inch space between the bottom of the frames and the bottom of the box if you leave them in there very long.

[Mark B.]

Thanks, I will get them moved soon.

[Mark B.]

Pulled the lid off this evening and the trap is completely empty. After all the activity for a week and a half there is no sign that they ever attempted to build any comb. I guess they found better accommodations elsewhere!

[Wally]