A Tale Of Two Swarms

[bobster]

Hello all,

Yesterday at about 1200 I get a call from home "your bees are swarming", eek, ok. So this was from a colony that I thought were Q-. But I'd recently done a split, they had a QC in there and I was letting nature take its course.

Fortunately they settled on a nearby tree in the garden. Quite a large cluster. By the time I'd got my veil on I noticed that they were off again. More activity more bees in the air, cluster getting smaller. So I managed to shake off what I could into a box. Not many bees I thought, maybe I got the queen, maybe not, I then left the bees to see where they went.

Well they were on the move, only straight back into the hive from where they came!. I noticed they were all going back in as if the mission were aborted.

Later that eve, I opened my box to find just a few hundred bees in there, wandering around pretty hopeless. Not even clustered. So I opened up the hive from where they came and knocked them back in. The hive was certainly still jam packed with bees. I went through to try and find the queen but couldn't see one or any evidence, no fresh eggs. Though I thought I could hear "piping", like an intermittent "peep". But I couldn't find the queen and left them.

Well this morning guess what? They went again about 1000. This time a bigger cluster, same tree, different branch. This time I managed to get them into a well ventilated box and have got a full compliment, a good sized swarm.

Can anyone suggest as to why they had a practice run yesterday? My assumption is that the queen never came out or if she did they just decided to call it off. I assume there must be a queen I've missed in there somewhere.

I will rehive this eve in a new hive I have.

Bobster

 

[enrico]

She was probably sat in there going 'april fool!' Sometimes it happens. I always let a swarm settle well before I try to collect them. There is no hurry. Often they will be in three or four small clusters before settling into one big one. They can remain there for days so don't rush. Once settled then collect them. This time they never did settle properly and obviously returned home. It happens. Just remember tat the queen in a swarm isn't always mated. Wait until you see eggs before you mark or clip.
Well done for getting them in the end. Good luck with your new hive!
E

 

[Dishmop]

Practice session.. Perhaps they thought they were a bit quick the first time so let you have extra time to get the new home to them.

 

[beeno]

Hi bobster,
Aborted swarm attempt. For some reason she did not follow, the queen follows the swarm and does not lead it. She probably had other business to attend to. Could have been a virgin not in a hurry as mother had already left!

 

[DaveJNeal]

Hi bobster,
Aborted swarm attempt. For some reason she did not follow, the queen follows the swarm and does not lead it. She probably had other business to attend to. Could have been a virgin not in a hurry as mother had already left!

on a similar thread - I caught a swarm yesterday, put the queen in a match box, put the match box in an overturned box then later that evening shook them onto a board, put the queen right up at the top and watched them all walk in.

This evening, they've gone - which is a bugger coz I lost a colony over the winter and thought this might be a 'free' replacement.

Once in a hive, do I want to close them in for a day to spread the smell thru-out the new hive, spray suger syrup over the pressed foundation ?

Bitter and cheated

cheers

Dave

 

[Rich0909]

on a similar thread - I caught a swarm yesterday, put the queen in a match box, put the match box in an overturned box then later that evening shook them onto a board, put the queen right up at the top and watched them all walk in.

This evening, they've gone - which is a bugger coz I lost a colony over the winter and thought this might be a 'free' replacement.

Once in a hive, do I want to close them in for a day to spread the smell thru-out the new hive, spray suger syrup over the pressed foundation ?

Bitter and cheated

cheers

Dave

I usually tack a piece of old slotted queen excluder over the entrance for 2-3 days, no more in case the queen is a virgin. An excluder under the brood box does the same job.

Rich

 

[beeno]

I usually tack a piece of old slotted queen excluder over the entrance for 2-3 days, no more in case the queen is a virgin. An excluder under the brood box does the same job.

Rich

Ditto. I used to shut them in for three days and it works, but prefer the QE method now - less stress.

 

[bobster]

Thanks for the replies,

beeno : Fairly certain this was prime swarm as the eve before the hive still packed with bees.

DaveJNeal : Same thing happened to me last year with a swarm. Lovely new home (tried to make it smell not too much of fresh wood so rubbed some old comb inside), attached some of the fresh comb they'd made to the bars. Twelve hours later all gone. My mistake I think was to be in a hurry and hive them in the morning. Should have done it in the eve and done the QE trick over the entrance.

I may post some pictures once I have them in the new hive this eve.

Then some pictures of an empty hive come Saturday!

Bobster

 

[susbees]

Ditto. I used to shut them in for three days and it works, but prefer the QE method now - less stress.

Just a bit! Shutting in bees when they are on a mega-caffeine-surge behaviour pattern is a bad idea. QE works well...a strip of cut-up zinc excluder is perhaps a better idea if you work on visuals or have less-than-perfect note taking...shutting in VQs for too long decreases their odds of a successful mating and a QE under can easily be missed on a top-down inspection!

 

[DaveJNeal]

thanks all, hopefully I'll have another chance this year and I'll use the QE trick.

many thanks

D

 

[pargyle]

Thanks for the replies,

beeno : Fairly certain this was prime swarm as the eve before the hive still packed with bees.

DaveJNeal : Same thing happened to me last year with a swarm. Lovely new home (tried to make it smell not too much of fresh wood so rubbed some old comb inside). Bobster

Bit off topic but I found that if you dissolve some frame scrapings (propolis, bits of wax, wood shavings - all the usual rubbish left when cleaning frames) in a jar of methylated spirits then this makes a fantastic smelling varnish for the inside of new hives woodwork. Meths evaporates almost instantly and just leaves the 'varnish' and this wonderful bee smell. It must be attractive as I was mobbed by bees on Sunday when I was doing the inside of my new hive ... not stinging - just dropping down for a look and presumably attracted by the smell. I was going to, originally, add in some Shellac but it's not necessary ....

 

[sansai]

Always re-hive them into a hive with old-style wooden floor, then they will stay.
If you give them a wire mesh floor, you can just watch those critters walk right out of there the next day !! Possibly too much daylight coming up through the wire floor in Midsummer ? ??? So not deemed a suitable home for HM.
Revert the hive back to a mesh floor about a week later and all should be well !