Have I lost them?

[Lois]

I got a phone call from the man where I keep my hive to say there are lots of girls in the bracken near the hive, so off I go for a look see (its about 3pm yesterday), sure enough there are a few thousand ladies just lying about on the ground, quickly got in touch with an experienced beek who lives near, Thanks David, I love you! he came along and looked and we thought we might have a clipped queen because they are on the ground. We(David) decided to wait for later to pick them up, after the footy. Meanwhile David went back and got the girls under the skep and left them to settle. Later we both went back and all the girls were out again just millimg around! it might be that there isnt a queen, so as they werent being cooperative we decided to leave them be overnight and see if they were still there this morning.
I looked in the hive and I still have pleanty of happy bees there, so today I will inspect and get rid of all but one uncapped qc.
By the end of today I might have 2 hives or still one, who knows. I hope its 2 because they have been the lovliest friendliest bees.

 

[Lois]

Yes I lost them. I went back today and they had all gone, without leaving a goodbye note. I hope they do well. Still got lots in my hive though. Got rid of all but the best looking open qc, they were happy and gentle as usual. It was a learning experience and I learnt quickly. Let's hope the new queen is just as nice as the old one.

 

[Midland Beek]

I went back today and they had all gone,

Conceivably, if the queen was clipped and their efforts at swarming failed, the swarm (or at least the bees comprising it) may have headed back home. This is the whole point of queen clipping.

 

[jezd]

lol, just the club, that’s life, I had a swarm hived for almost 10 days and even took it in an observation hive to an event - then bang the all left just like that.

Bizarre.