Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[Rebecca]

Hi!

I'm a total beginner and just hived my first swarm into my tbh 2 days ago. The swarm had been caught and kept over night by a beekeeping friend of mine, so now it's been at least 3 days since they left their old hive.

It was cold and rainy for the last two days and although the rain has stopped today, it's still pretty windy, and I'm worried they can't get out to get food. They got pretty damp while we hived them and I'm concerned they have used all of the honey they took with them just to keep warm.

I realize now I should have put a feeder in with them when I hived them, but now I'm afraid of opening the hive again and chilling them more.

My beekeeping friend, and the friend who lent me the woodwork tools to build the hive are both away on holiday, so if I feed them now I need a solution that doesn't involve drilling things etc! Is there a quick and simple way I can get some food to them, and what would be the best food in this case? Or do you think they'll be ok? There is plenty of forage around them if they can just get outside. Tomorrow it should be sunny, but then it will get cloudy again..

Rebecca

[B kind]

Hi and Welcome,

I am sure someone with more experience will contribute too but I will share my thoughts.

Bees are tough hardy resilient creatures. I would only begin to worry about a swarm if there was constant rain and low temperatures for more than 3 days after hiving. One of the aspects important to a new swarm is peace and quiet. Any disturbance can disrupt their foraging and comb building and possibly cause them to abscond.

Feeding outside the hive could attract robbers and feeding inside could disturb them, although a lunch box slipped in the back of the hive with sugar syrup and straw floating in it to prevent drowning is a possibility if really bad weather continues. The days are long now though, and unless there is constant rain they will make the most of any opportunity to forage. Wind is not ideal but unless it is a gale bees will dart out and find a sheltered place to forage. A swarm is likely to be busy building comb for the first few days at least and they have the reserves to do that.

All the best

Kim

[Rebecca]

Great, thanks! That's really put my mind at rest!