Bee swarming behaviour?

[Chris Luck]

Well, she wouldn't get mated round here, not for a month now and it is entirely unnatural for bees to swarm at this time of year, as I said, in a natural situation it would be suicide.

I really do find all this most bizarre.

Chris

 

[oliver90owner]

I really do find all this most bizarre.

I don't know why. Is it the mating? There will be a few drones around and if the conditions are right she may get mated. I did not say very likely nor I did not say satisfactorily.

You are right in that it is entirely unnatural for them to swarm at this time of the year. But it will still depend on the weather, the location, a good slice of luck, etc. But still possible. I for one would not be relying on it, that is for sure.

Is it the swarming? There are beeks feeding, there is a good flow in some areas. If the management is such that it leads to swarming that may be poor or simply, shall we say, 'inexperience' showing. It may also be part due to the strain of bee not being completely appropriate to the particular habitat. I have no idea. I would not want to find out and certainly the later it gets the less likely any form of mating will occur.

Just don't blame all of us on the forum! Don't be surprised at what goes on with the bees. There are a lot of new beeks, so we musn't blame them. Just unfortunate which circumstances come together at the wrong time. Doubtless there are a few drone laying queens out there that we do not hear about too.

RAB

 

[Chris Luck]

Hmmmm, I'm not blaming anyone although as you know I'm not in agreement with much of what is going on in the world of "the keeping of bees", but then I'm only a humble "bee watcher" apparently even though my bees don't die or do weird things. Therefore I find most of the things on this forum bizarre.

As I said, all my drones were gone a month ago, logical if you think about it as they wouldn't be required as they wouldn't be swarming. That's both points covered in one.

Another little practise I find a bit odd is opening hives in winter. I was taught, (if that's the right word), not to open hives from Oct until March.

Thoughts?

Chris

 

[PaleoPerson]

The one colony of mine that swarms for no apparent reason, with one exception, has swarmed whilst the queen was laying, no queen cells and the queen had not 'slimmed down'. I think the reason they clustered only about six to 12 feet from the hive was because this was how far the queen (unclipped) could fly .

 

[Chris Luck]

So PP do all the bees leave the hive or just a percentage?

Is it an attempt to swarm or are they attempting to abscond, and what time of year does this happen?

Chris

 

[oliver90owner]

Chris,

Try this thread:

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6844

Regards, RAB

 

[Hombre]

Hmmmm, I find most of the things on this forum bizarre.

As I said, all my drones were gone a month ago, logical if you think about it as they wouldn't be required as they wouldn't be swarming. That's both points covered in one.

Another little practise I find a bit odd is opening hives in winter. I was taught, (if that's the right word), not to open hives from Oct until March.

Thoughts?

Chris

I'm not sure when you were taught the craft of bee keeping or when your tutor was taught, but perhaps prior to the discovery of the varroa mite in the UK in 1992, it would likely have been common practice to shut up the hives sometime in October and leave them until March, but in the intervening years oxalic acid dripping as part of an integrated pest management approach to the pest has indicated that opening the hives in the depths of winter for the treatment to be a lesser evil.

Some colonies may keep a limited number of drones in the hive over winter; not as a sign of desperation, but because they can afford to sustain them as an insurance policy, because they can. I certainly had drones in one of my colonies in late October last year.

A month ago I was at an opened hive where the workers were herding the drones which were corralled in one corner of the box. Very bizzare; it didn't happen on the forum, but in an apiary near/in the Midlands. Bees are like that and regularly throw curved balls that don't conform to perceived or published wisdom.

Paleo Person, are your mystery swarming bees Carniolan by chance?

 

[PaleoPerson]

Paleo Person, are your mystery swarming bees Carniolan by chance?

I think they are of Carnolian descent, at least 3 or 4 generations plus. but they are from the same stock as the rest of the 'Garden Bees' which display none of the swarming traits.

 

[MJBee]

Silly Bee,
I had a colony where the queen was failing ie laying more and more drone eggs and less worker eggs. I was all set to replace her and set out to find her only to be surprised to find an unmarked new queen. I thought the bees had sorted the problem themselves and duly marked the new queen.

The next inspection I saw the "blue" queen and was surprised to find the "green" queen 2 frames further on. Mother and daughter co-existed quite happily from June until the first Apiguard went on 4 weeks ago, she has not been seen since,

 

[Silly Bee]

Earlier this year I collected a swarm, I missed a queen cell due to being in a rush, they swarmed the day after the inspection, I caught the swarm, looked in the original hive and found the supercedure cell.

Hence my original question.

 

[Silly Bee]

ps

I now have a newly mated queen, and the old queen, slow laying she might be, but laying she is.