Bees swarm and return daily

[Paulypaul]

I saw this once, even though I don't clip queens. They would swarm and cluster fir a few minutes then go back in. The queen had a problem flying. About 8 days after this began, they swarmed normally, i.e. a virgin queen had hatched. They behaved normally after that.

I've seen a colony try to abscond, but I had a QE under the BB. The workers remained airborne for a couple of minutes, in front of the hive, they then returned to the hive - I didn't see them cluster.

 

[Antipodes]

they tend to use the bottom entrance for dumping fresh nectar, not the top - I have quite a few Demarees running at the moment, and in all of them there is little activity in the top entrances, the brood combs in the bottom Q+ box is full of fresh nectar (whenever you need to shake bees off them the hive gets a downpour of watery nectar) and the top box is slowly and steadily filling with honey stores.

I've got just one hive with a bottom and top entrance and they seemed to largely use the top during the season, but I'll be checking on them again soon and I'll have another look now it's winter to see which they are using. . What about a top entrance only? What do they do then I wonder with the incoming nectar and also brood position?

 

[Colonial]

I've had the same here, with almost daily swarms which return before long (although no swarm yesterday, so fingers crossed).

This is a colony with plenty of room and stores, but with a new Princess. Two HIGHLY experienced beekeepers (both ex inspectors) advise that this is probably a mating swarm. One went through the colony with me just to make certain that I hadn't missed any QCs and that all was otherwise well.

My plan is to check for eggs in about 12 days and do a test comb if I can't find any.

They keep us on our feet and learning, bless 'em!

 

[BernardBlack]

A similar thing happened to me on Tuesday.

About 150-200 bees were clinging to a post in front of hives.

Thought it was a swarm (albeit, a small one), so brushed them into a box and left them while I did inspections.

A few more bees kept flying to the post, while the brushed bees remained in the box below (didn’t see any Queen in box or on post).

Left them a few hours, came back and the bees were gone from the swarm box and from the post. Presumably went back to one of my three hives.

All queens were in their hives, had plenty of stores/room and no Queen cells in any of hives.

I figured a few hundred bees just fancied an afternoon out!

 

[Hux70]

Well in the last week I've lost 2 swarms from different hives. Both were checked the previous week and showed no signs of swarm prep and both had bias and plenty of room. Checked the hives again thoroughly after swarming and again no signs of swarm prep and still room and no virgin Q. No idea whats going on

 

[JamezF]

Well in the last week I've lost 2 swarms from different hives. Both were checked the previous week and showed no signs of swarm prep and both had bias and plenty of room. Checked the hives again thoroughly after swarming and again no signs of swarm prep and still room and no virgin Q. No idea whats going on

Why would you expect a virgin queen in a hive that had recently swarmed? If the old queen left with the prime swarm then the initial assumption would be that a new queen cell had just been capped and you'd have another twelve days or thereabouts before that queen emerged.

It sounds as though you may have missed a queen cell or two at the previous inspection. They do sometimes get built where they're very awkward to spot, even if you clear each frame of bees.

James

 

[ericbeaumont]

new queen cell had just been capped and you'd have another twelve days or thereabouts before that queen emerged

Sure you mean 12, James? If the QC was capped on day 8/9, a virgin would emerge on day 16, 7/8 days later.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Why would you expect a virgin queen in a hive that had recently swarmed

It does happen. The colony just doesn't swarm when the QCs are capped. How often do we find the queen in residence and capped queen cells.
I would love to know if any of this has been a help to @Mumph who was logged back on the forum yesterday

 

[JamezF]

Sure you mean 12, James? If the QC was capped on day 8/9, a virgin would emerge on day 16, 7/8 days later.

You're not wrong. A bit of brainfade with the numbers there it seems.

James

 

[JamezF]

It does happen. The colony just doesn't swarm when the QCs are capped.

Oh, I agree. There are probably loads of reasons why you might find an emerged virgin straight after they'd swarmed. But whilst I wouldn't be surprised to find a VQ, especially given the weather we've had this Spring, it's not what I'd expect in the majority of cases.

James