Swarm move in today at my place in Berkeley

[Jim Veitch]

An hour ago a swarm moved into an empty box with a frame of old comb and a squirt of my almost 10 year Swarm Commander that lives in mu fridge.  The box was on my deck so about 12 feet up. Quite a big one as I discovered when I shook it onto frames.

Put out those bait boxes!

[Alexia Williams]

That is awesome and so conveniently placed! Congrats.

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[Jim Veitch]

Thanks!

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[Sean Schoonmaker]

Yup. I has a swarm move into one of my empty hives this spring as well!

They seem VERY energetic, but pretty mellow in temperament.

Best Regards,

Sean

[Alan Pryor]

I have scouts checking my bait hive

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[Jim Veitch]

Move-in swarms are always a joy, especially when you get to see it happen.

I inspected my move-in swarm today.  Queen is already laying, so it was a prime swarm.  Loads of fresh nectar. Lovely temperament as they ignored me while I went through the box, no smoke needed but then I would kind of expect that since they might not have fully transitioned away from swarm mode.  I'll do an Oxalic Acid dribble for mite knock back this weekend before any of the new brood gets capped.

On Thu, Mar 12, 2026, 7:21 PM Sean Schoonmaker <sch...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[yolanda huang]

Had you had swarms in your yard before?  I just put out a swarm box...and was wondering

On Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 4:46 PM Jim Veitch <jvei...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Jim Veitch]

When I look back through my records, I've had a bait box in the same location since at least 2017 and swarms have moved in 6 times. This one was both one of the largest and also the earliest of them. I've had scouting activity but no swarms many times.  I only started putting out a bait box maybe 10 years ago, though I had a couple of swarms show up before, attracted by the empty comb and boxes I keep under the deck.

Scouts prefer higher cavities, which is why it's on the deck.  The bait box is empty except for a single frame of old black comb on one side (in this last case it was old drone comb).  Scouts measure the space inside the box and while I don't know for real, I think it might make it easier for them if the comb is on the side.

After they show up and have settled in for the day, but still in daylight, I shake them onto real comb or foundation or empty frames with a starter strip in situ, then strap the hive assembly.  That evening I block the entrance and carry them to a new location in the yard being very careful not to trip as I go down the stairs. That way I get minimum orienting to the deck location.

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