Beemail
New Bee
Popped by the hives this morning to see if all was ok. As I approached the apiary the air was thick with bees. This was about 9:30 this morning.
I have 2 commercial hives, last weekend when I did the inspection the Q was not viewable and there were no eggs visible, the hive was full of bees so didn't think a swarm had happened. I found one capped Q cell in the middle of one of the frames which I assumed was a superseedure cell so was planning to leave well alone to let them get on with it. Other hive was fine Qright with plenty of space no Q cells.
I will be going back down shortly with bee suit on to see what's happening, but I presume that I will have probably lost the vast majority of the inhabitants of that hive and that they are hanging up somewhere.
Should I put a bait hive out nearby?
When they swarm like this do they tend to hang up near the original hive (and therefore it might be a plan to search the nearby area for them) or do they swarm off miles away?
Back ground info: my second year of beekeeping, hive that has swarmed is commercial had about 5 frames of BIAS only 1 comb of foundation (all the others had been drawn), colony was from nucleus that I got last year. No super on. Apiary is in open glade in a wood.
Thanks for any advice .....
I have 2 commercial hives, last weekend when I did the inspection the Q was not viewable and there were no eggs visible, the hive was full of bees so didn't think a swarm had happened. I found one capped Q cell in the middle of one of the frames which I assumed was a superseedure cell so was planning to leave well alone to let them get on with it. Other hive was fine Qright with plenty of space no Q cells.
I will be going back down shortly with bee suit on to see what's happening, but I presume that I will have probably lost the vast majority of the inhabitants of that hive and that they are hanging up somewhere.
Should I put a bait hive out nearby?
When they swarm like this do they tend to hang up near the original hive (and therefore it might be a plan to search the nearby area for them) or do they swarm off miles away?
Back ground info: my second year of beekeeping, hive that has swarmed is commercial had about 5 frames of BIAS only 1 comb of foundation (all the others had been drawn), colony was from nucleus that I got last year. No super on. Apiary is in open glade in a wood.
Thanks for any advice .....