I’ve always heard Carniolans have a tendency to swarm. I now believe it. Yesterday I caught the third swarm from the same hive. This one was the second day in a row. Luckily they were lower to the ground, and I’ve become quite experienced in the last week, so it wasn’t that big of a chore.
I used an 8 frame brood box again but only added 3 frames this time. I also left the entrance wide open. They didn’t pile in as quickly as the previous two, but at least they stuck around. We were able to move them at dusk.
I checked on them this morning and they seem to be content. I added a Boardman feeder with 1:1 sugar water as I had run out of honey frames to give them. I also added more frames, including a frame of brood from their original hive. The idea is they will not abandon brood and that will hopefully encourage them to stay around.
It was only after it was too late that I realized I had made a mistake. I didn’t think to shake off the nurse bees from the brood frame I gave them. The hive got really noisy for a while but it seems to have settled down now. I’m trusting they’ll get along since they’ve only been apart for one day?
The first swarm I captured last week was becoming full of bees, so I added a 2nd brood box today. I had already added a queen excluder and honey super last weekend. It seems to be getting stronger and last year’s queen is doing well.
I noticed first thing this morning that there were a lot of bees returning to the spot where I captured yesterday’s swarm. I put a brood box there with 2 frames. This evening I will check it and if there are any bees hanging out I will shake them into the new hive and move the temp hive closer to the new one. Hopefully they will all eventually find their new home.
