Bees running frantically over frames

[RosieMc]

Just checked a problem hive and noticed the bees are running frantically all over the frames - why could this be?

The queen in it has been a poor layer all year and only ever managing to lay over a couple of frames. I have looked, and looked, but I have never ever managed to find her. When I looked yesterday there was evidence of single eggs laid in cells, but only in a small cluster on one side of a frame.

If I can get a test frame from my good hive, I will try that. Uniting would be a problem as as I have said, I can't find the queen in the problem hive

 

[Hivemaker.]

Just checked a problem hive and noticed the bees are running frantically all over the frames - why could this be?

Could be because it is dark, and your torch or lamp light spooked them.

 

[RosieMc]

Could be because it is dark, and your torch or lamp light spooked them.

Ho, Ho, I get it now. So, correction, I've not JUST checked them, but checked them this afternoon. Sorry, got distracted listening to the the Vicar Jokes on TV

 

[Hivemaker.]

Maybe a new queen has just emerged, as they have eggs, and as long as they produce normal brood, then there is not much point in putting in a test comb from another hive...what would it be testing for?

 

[pargyle]

It may just be that this is one of those colonies that are mobile on the frames during inspections ... if it was a smaller colony you may not have noticed it before ?

It is one of the behaviour patterns that Dave Cushman describes in his behaviour characteristics ...

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/behaviour.html

 

[RosieMc]

Thanks Pargyle and Hivemaker. So, it's just down to genetics. I didn't use smoke this time as they were pretty mobile the time before last I looked, but this time - wow! So fast and for no apparent reason

 

[MuswellMetro]

I have one hive that does that when thunder is around, the others just sit there as normal

 

[pargyle]

Thanks Pargyle and Hivemaker. So, it's just down to genetics. I didn't use smoke this time as they were pretty mobile the time before last I looked, but this time - wow! So fast and for no apparent reason

Better them running about on the frames than running all over you trying to kill you !

If they were queenless I would rather expect them to be tetchy rather than just mobile ... more so if you noticed they were running at a previous inspection. I've got a queen who is so quick over the frames it's very hard to find her but she does tend to have a sizeable group of followers who go with her ... I usually spot the herd of bees moving before I see her.

 

[enrico]

Sometimes when the queen is duff they don't settle. They will push her around and ball her, she will lay a few eggs and then they will have another go at her. Eventually they will kill her off and supersede her .... Hopefully. The trick is to know when this has been done.
E

 

[Arfermo]

RosieMc,

Instead of repeatedly trawling through the problem hive have you tried any of the alternative methods of finding the queen - taranov board, shaking through the QE, etc? Getting a bit late now possibly to do anything serious about getting rid but there are queens for sale if you fancy one eg Beeman or Google for Native Queen Bees.

 

[RosieMc]

Sometimes when the queen is duff they don't settle. They will push her around and ball her, she will lay a few eggs and then they will have another go at her. Eventually they will kill her off and supersede her .... Hopefully. The trick is to know when this has been done.
E

This would make sense. Duff q laying a few eggs. So it's going to have to be the q excluder sifting, and a good replacement.

Thanks everyone

 

[REDWOOD]

When bees issue swarm mode they will run up and down frames diagonally before swarm cells are seen, nobody knows why this happens but this could be the case with your hive, failing queen and supercedure

 

[Jeff Buzz]

I have a colony like this bees run all over the place and could not find the queen.

So split frames between two boxes pushed them together in twos and checked back tree times whilst checking other hives hoping to find the queen between frames.

Still could not find her in the end took the whole thing apart and she was hiding in gap between bottom box and base.

Funnily enough I have another one I inspected the other day and loads move up over my hands as soon as I picked out a frame it was really creepy, not aggressive in any way just sort of weird.

 

[Roola]

I have a colony that does that, not relaxed at all on frames and like they are on on speed! The queen is just as bad and on one inspection she ended up running out the entrance onto the floor... she's a good layer so will be no problem over winter but think this will be a requeen job next year, not keen on these characteristics.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You should work with african bees - with the ones I handled, one small puff of smoke then open up and lift the first frame out you'd immediately find that there weren't many bees on the frame to run around, I would look down and find that the majority of the bees would be clustered on the outside of the hive no bees covering the brood or anything - made inspections a doddle but unless she was on the first frame I picked up, finding the queen was a nightmare

 

[RosieMc]

yes, it's pretty scary watching your bees running frantically over the frames like they are on amphetamines. All that energy expended for no purpose whatsoever.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

it was the only trait of AMM that Manley was really critical of

 

[Polyanwood]

One colony that had been skittish on the comb all season and not done well was quiet yesterday and there was a better laying pattern and a nice new queen.

I find quite a lot of colonies seem to change their queen at this time of year.

 

[Amari]

One colony that had been skittish on the comb all season and not done well was quiet yesterday and there was a better laying pattern and a nice new queen.
I find quite a lot of colonies seem to change their queen at this time of year.

Yes, my strongest colony seems to be superseding - half a dozen scrubby sealed Qcells. Worrying as the chances of a new Q getting mated in Sept are probably low and I believe an overwintered virgin would be incapable come spring. Very few drones in any hive.