Is this the worst May since time began...

[Thymallus]

Not come across one that died, yet. Although this might have been one of Seeley's artificialswarms. The moosacher swarm was very similar to the balcony swarm, only they returned and resettled with queen and then made a decision, although Lindauer never saw them leave as he had a pressing engagement that evening.....me thinks the pub was calling!

 

[midnight sun]

Youd be suprised what can be found in cumbria

Martians, for a start.

 

[madasafish]

Youd be suprised what can be found in cumbria

Intelligent life?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Don't be silly!

 

[YorkshireBees]

Not come across one that died, yet. Although this might have been one of Seeley's artificialswarms. The moosacher swarm was very similar to the balcony swarm, only they returned and resettled with queen and then made a decision, although Lindauer never saw them leave as he had a pressing engagement that evening.....me thinks the pub was calling!

Although it hadn't died I did a 'cut out' from a tree branch a couple of years ago.

When I say 'cut out' the only semblance to a normal cut out was that they had built several large combs hanging from a branch out in the open!

The house owner called a pestie as they thought they had a wasps nest. When he found out they were honey bees her called me and then duly held the ladder whilst I transported several combs to the ground and tied them into frames!

It was late Summer if I recall and they WOULD have perished once the weather turned!

 

[Thymallus]

Thanks for that - didn't have time to find the complete reference - I'm sure there was reference to one swarm in the 1950's which just sat there and died.

I think I've found the one you meant, page 282. The Holunder swarm had a failed decision and stayed on the landing site. Made comb, raised brood and brought in some stores. Lindauer left it there for 2 months before removing it. They found it was close to starvation at that time.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thanks, wasn't going completely crackers then - must have just been the 'balcony' tag stuck in my mind.

 

[Thymallus]

Naa, figure you've still got a few neurons left.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Useful reading, thanks for the pdf link.

Derek might like this snippet?

when we took it down in autumn, it was close to starvation. It surely would not have survived the winter because of lack of food alone.
Evidently, the cold autumn weather had already gnawed into their reserves, since the temperature regulation on free-hanging combs requires much more metabolism to keep the bees warm than in a closed cavity.​

 

[Dishmop]

I had a swarm move into a warré last week (thank you Dishmop) which was sitting in my garden.

Those boxes actually had a swarm in them before any other bees. Sort of started to slowly drift in during the morning...before the boxes were even stacked up on a stand...