This happened previously and I already wrote about it elsewhere, but I decided to add it to this beekeeping blog too. A number of weeks ago my native Japanese honey bee colony swarmed and formed a cluster under an overhang above the 6th floor of Agriculture Building #1 on the Hakozaki Campus of Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. I have my beehive on the flat roof of the building.
I was able to capture the swarm using a long-handled insect net through the window of Professor Shoichi Ito’s office, and I dumped the bees into a Langstroth type hive that I had readied on the roof of the building. It seems I had not readied it quite enough because the bees did not stay in the hive. They absconded and left for “who knows where.”
After thinking about the possible things that could have been the cause for them leaving, I finally decided that the most probable reason was that I did not burn the inside and outside of the hive box. The reason I should have burned the wood of the box is that it is an aromatic wood (Japanese cryptomeria) which smells much like cedar, and the bees probably left because of the chemicals in the smell. I had not thought about that ahead of time and assumed that having frames of wax foundation would be enough attraction to keep them there. They must be more sensitive to chemicals than I thought. I’m fairly confident that the smell was the reason they left. Singeing the wood with a gas burner would burn off the volatiles and leave a neutral or little smell left which would then not irritate the bees. I remember hearing beekeepers say that many Japanese honey bee hives will not be populated by bees until they have aged several years. I also watched a video that recommended burning the inside and outside of the hive box, and came to the conclusion that elimination of the volatile chemicals was the reason it needed to be done.
It was quite a big disappointment to lose the swarm, but I learned an important lesson from the failure and will not make the same mistake again.