I charged the mini nucs with bees yesterday and have put them in a cool dark place to chill, draw foundation and settle down before I put the virgins in. All the virgins were still present and correct in their rollers/cages, which was good news.
Suddenly the air was full of bees. They were all rushing into the entrance of the hive that I took all the virgins out of on Saturday. I had thought that there was probably an emerged virgin in there, so I hadn't left them any cells. It was orginally the queenless half of an artificial swarm, so not a huge colony anyway.
These were different bees going in. A different colour. At first I thought it was a mass robbing frenzy, so I popped in an entrance block to even up the odds a bit, so that they would have a smaller entrance to defend.
There were no casualties, however, and some of the bees rushing in, bubbling through the entrance block had pollen on their legs, which they shouldn't have, because that colony is not bringing in pollen...and I don't think it is normal for robbers to go equipped with pollen.
After an hour everything was calm again and we looked inside to find more bees than previously. No fighting. I looked for a queen, but didn't see one, but some of the frames were 3 deep with bees, so it was hard to see. I put some more frames in the box to give them more room.
My new hypothesis is that actually this colony was queenless and the cast swarm could somehow tell this, so decided to join them. I have never seen this before. I am dying to go back in a few days to see whether there are any eggs.
What do you think? Is this possible?
Suddenly the air was full of bees. They were all rushing into the entrance of the hive that I took all the virgins out of on Saturday. I had thought that there was probably an emerged virgin in there, so I hadn't left them any cells. It was orginally the queenless half of an artificial swarm, so not a huge colony anyway.
These were different bees going in. A different colour. At first I thought it was a mass robbing frenzy, so I popped in an entrance block to even up the odds a bit, so that they would have a smaller entrance to defend.
There were no casualties, however, and some of the bees rushing in, bubbling through the entrance block had pollen on their legs, which they shouldn't have, because that colony is not bringing in pollen...and I don't think it is normal for robbers to go equipped with pollen.
After an hour everything was calm again and we looked inside to find more bees than previously. No fighting. I looked for a queen, but didn't see one, but some of the frames were 3 deep with bees, so it was hard to see. I put some more frames in the box to give them more room.
My new hypothesis is that actually this colony was queenless and the cast swarm could somehow tell this, so decided to join them. I have never seen this before. I am dying to go back in a few days to see whether there are any eggs.
What do you think? Is this possible?
