Boxed swarms and how long they can make it

[susan rudnicki]

Since this is coming up fairly often, I will tell you what Jossip and I find with the viability of boxed swarms in “storage” Sam, ( the guy who removes swarms for homeowners in his business, delivers them to me and I post them for re-homing) brought me a pretty large boxed swarm on Wed at 5:30 pm. He reported they were at his house “since Tuesday” I was unable to place them till Friday morning, by which time there was NO sound coming from the box. I opened it, to find 95% of the swarm dead in the bottom of the box. The queen and a small group of her retinue were clustered in a upper corner. I put them in a screened shoebox with honeycomb—maybe they will make it.
So, this swarm was boxed 3.5 days and was mostly dead. One never knows how long a swarm is clustered at the location where they are taken by the beek. Josip tells me he often finds lots of dead bees or queenless bees in these boxed swarms. I think the best policy for hiving these swarms is AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I always tell callers I want them picked up right away and put in at night. I also wonder about the viability of a old queen when she has undergone this kind of stress.

[Max Morgan]

I find placing a wet sponge in the bottom of the swarm box helps to keep the bees hydrated. Otherwise, they dehydrate quickly and die of thirst. I also spray the swarm with sugar water which provides a temporary food source.

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