A swarm from no where

[derekm]

Last week we found a big swarm( 2kg) in our garden in bush a 10m from the nearest hive. First reaction, its one of ours got loose. That was odd since only the smaller colonies had had swarm cells recently. After the weekly inspection we couldnt see any significant number of bees missing. We dont think we are near any other apiaries. Nearest we know is more than 1km. We are stumped as to the origin of this swarm.
The swarm is a good one. It set to drawing all of the frames simultaneously. We are looking to put a super on it this evening...

 

[Erichalfbee]

Happened here too.
Prime on a tree 10 feet away from the hives, We put them into a 14 x 12 where they settled on 5 frames. The next day we looked through all 8 boxes and all queens present and correct.
Three weeks later there were three supers on it.

 

[galileo]

Could well be from someone's chimney Derek. Are they sooty? Sounds like a good one: what's not to love about free bees?

 

[Jeff Buzz]

I had the same thing yesterday nice swarm in my trees 20ft from apiary definitely not mine.

 

[GlenJ]

Haven't had a swarm yet, but it definitely wasn't one of mine!

 

[Tawny Owl]

Means you have a colony of 'wild' bees within a hundred yards of your apiary. Probably a swarm of yours from a previous year.

Hopefully it means that they might have some resistance to varroa so try not to buy in a replacement queen.

 

[Jeff Buzz]

I have a few wild colonies within a hundred yards from me including a neighbour who has 3 colonies and uses a hands off approach to beekeeping and lets them get on with it.

But will a swarm move a good distance before relocating to a new home???

I lost one this year and it ended up on a neighbours hedge 25 yards away I tried to collect it within 2hrs and it took off when I cut a branch holding the bulk of the swarm so I doubt that it had found a new home in 2 hours and I guess it would have regrouped some way away as I followed it across two fields just moving at walking pace.
In my limited experience when they have made up and found a new home they fly pretty damn quick...

 

[Dishmop]

Tardis bees?

 

[Elaine]

Means you have a colony of 'wild' bees within a hundred yards of your apiary. Probably a swarm of yours from a previous year.

Hopefully it means that they might have some resistance to varroa so try not to buy in a replacement queen.

While there is always the possibility they were from a previous years swarm from us - they apear to have more Buckfast in them than ours, which are all decended from my original Buckfast colony. (This suposition is not based on any genetic investigation, more the fact that my lovely golden coloured bees are graduallay becoming more mixed with the darker local mongrels )

And as regards re-queening, I leave the bees to decide when they need a new queen, and have not had to treat for Varroa for 4 years - relying on keeping the bees in a habitat where they can deal with Varroa themselves.

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

I too had a swarm of bees just turn up out of nowhere and move into an old brood box. They definitely aren't from my bees as it only had a nucleus at the time and these are much louder and darker. The queen is marked so someone is missing their bees. On the upside these 'free bees' are doing incredibly well! In 4 weeks they have just about filled the brood box and I have added a queen excluder and a super.

The nearest bees to me (to my knowledge) are about a mile away.

 

[kazmcc]

You are all so lucky! You have bees, then find free bees! I left our hive up on the off chance we would attract a swarm. There is at least one wild colony that I know of, and two other bee keepers on the same allotment, but nothing. Not a sniff.

 

[masterBK]

Why is it that after all the books they have read, all the mentoring by experienced beekeepers, lectures on swarm control/ prevention at evening meetings, discussion on this and other forums that so many beekeepers still can't stop their bees swarming and particularly casting. In module 1 the answers to the "swarm question" are often badly answered by the majority of candidates. Most beekeepers deny that the swarm only a few yards from their own bees came out of their hives (although to be fair a few swarms will have come from elsewhere).

 

[Tawny Owl]

While there is always the possibility they were from a previous years swarm from us - they apear to have more Buckfast in them than ours, which are all decended from my original Buckfast colony. (This suposition is not based on any genetic investigation, more the fact that my lovely golden coloured bees are graduallay becoming more mixed with the darker local mongrels )

And as regards re-queening, I leave the bees to decide when they need a new queen, and have not had to treat for Varroa for 4 years - relying on keeping the bees in a habitat where they can deal with Varroa themselves.

Well, ancestry and genetics aside a swarm will move from its point of origin to a cluster point within about a hundred yards. When it moves from its cluster point it can go a long way. So if you find a cluster in a tree it usually (note the 'usually') comes from within a hundred yards or so. The exception is when the bees decide to live in a tree and move from their first cluster point into a tree within a couple of miles. I've seen this behaviour twice this year so it is probably quite common.

 

[REDWOOD]

Happened here too.
Prime on a tree 10 feet away from the hives, We put them into a 14 x 12 where they settled on 5 frames. The next day we looked through all 8 boxes and all queens present and correct.
Three weeks later there were three supers on it.

+1 Massive swarm I put a super on it Sunday 10 days after it was hived, as fast as they were drawing comb they where filling it with honey

 

[Erichalfbee]

.

The nearest bees to me (to my knowledge) are about a mile away.

Are you on Beebase?
You might be surprised just how many Beekeepers there are near you.
I have 75 apiaries registered with NBU within 15km and I live in the middle of nowhere!

 

[BeeJayBee]

Why is it that after all the books they have read, all the mentoring by experienced beekeepers, lectures on swarm control/ prevention at evening meetings, discussion on this and other forums that so many beekeepers still can't stop their bees swarming and particularly casting. In module 1 the answers to the "swarm question" are often badly answered by the majority of candidates. Most beekeepers deny that the swarm only a few yards from their own bees came out of their hives (although to be fair a few swarms will have come from elsewhere).

Because, they've only got one book; some of their mentors are no good; because the club doesn't teach swarm control or swarm prevention except as a theory lesson in a classroom; because they aren't good at using the internet and maybe because the swarm that's only a few yards from their own bees was seen arriving from elsewhere.

 

[kazmcc]

"If I plant a honeycomb outside my house, will it grow into a beehive?"

BeeJoyful, I might try this. I have to have more luck that trying to bait a swarm

 

[Jeff Buzz]

Why is it that after all the books they have read, all the mentoring by experienced beekeepers, lectures on swarm control/ prevention at evening meetings, discussion on this and other forums that so many beekeepers still can't stop their bees swarming and particularly casting. In module 1 the answers to the "swarm question" are often badly answered by the majority of candidates. Most beekeepers deny that the swarm only a few yards from their own bees came out of their hives (although to be fair a few swarms will have come from elsewhere).

Sorry but I have never been mentored, attended a lecture on swarm control, been to a evening meeting or done module 1 or any other modules for that matter "but I do know when my bees have swarmed"

 

[kazmcc]

Yup. I was kind of thrown into the deep end of beekeeping as a bee and buzzing things phobic ( long story ), my mentor was pretty non existent after the first few inspections and even I managed not to lose a swarm in the two and a half years I had the bees. I have this forum to thank for that, and their gentle, patient encouragement.

 

[masterBK]

Hopefully most beekeepers should recognise when their bees had swarmed. My main point is why is it that so many swarms seem to occur in supposedly managed colonies. The signs of a colonies intentions to swarm are fairly obvious and give the beekeeper plenty of time to change the outcome. Preventing and controlling swarming isn't exactly rocket science.