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Let's say I caught a swam. Do I leave them there for a couple of days, or do I bring them home as soon as I notice them? Once home, then what? Do I leave them confined for 3 days, so they will re-orient when I finally let them out? Or, do I just bring them home and transfer them to their permanent home? What if it's less them 3 miles from where the swarm box was?

Sorry for all the questions. Just want to try and do things right the first time.

Thanks.

Some of this depends on how you caught the swarm. If they moved into your swarm lure or empty equipment, they have selected that place. I would leave them for at least a few days to let them settle in and then move them to where I wanted to locate them. If the queen has started laying eggs in the swarm box, there is a good chance that they will stay in the new hive box you move them to regardless of the distance between the swarm box and the permanent location.

If I gathered a swarm by shaking them into a hive or by vacuuming them, I would want to move them at least 3 miles from where I collected them. If they had scouted a location before I gathered them, they would most likely leave my equipment for their selected home. If you can't move them that far from where you collected a clustering swarm, I would at least want to try and prevent the queen from being able to leave the new hive box for a few days. This may be by putting her in a queen catcher clip if you can locate her or by using a queen "includer." The includer can either be the piece of equipment that goes across the landing board and lets workers come and go but the queen cannot fit through, or put a queen excluder between the bottom board and the super before putting the swarm into a super and making sure there is no upper entrance by which the queen can leave. If you have a frame of eggs and open brood you can put in with a collected swarm, you will increase the chance of their staying put.

There are lots of variations that may come up in catching and hiving swarms--a bad feeling is to hive one only to have it leave for a location they have already selected.

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