Late swarm

[italic63]

Hello from the north of Italy…
The temperatures here are 15-18 max during the day, 8-10 at night.
The sun has been shining for the last few days and so the bees are out to have a look around. All seemed good.
At the moment however, from one of hives the bees are all out and flying and near the hive with what looks to me like swarm behaviour!
Please see video attached. Could it be too late for a swarm? Should I be worried?
I inspected my 3 hives a couple of weeks ago and they have extremely high levels of honey stores and the queen was still laying albeit to a lesser degree.
Thanks for your help as usual!
View attachment IMG_4646.mov

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

looks like orientation flights to me

 

[Sutty]

Your video didn't stay on the high point you looked at. Is there an opening they are scouting?

 

[italic63]

Your video didn't stay on the high point you looked at. Is there an opening they are scouting?

Hi. I thought the same thing but no, there isn’t an opening. They were just hanging around the side of the building. I also noticed them fighting a lot.
Could it be robbing? (As I said before they are stacked full of honey. I’m guessing around 15-20lb of honey each hive). By the way now that the sun has gone down they’ve all gone back in their original hive so I’m guessing not swarming

 

[Sutty]

If there's fighting at the entrance then robbing is likely. Close the entrance to allow just 2 or 3 bees to pass and hope for the best (unless you can move them away by 5 kilometers)

 

[ericbeaumont]

stacked full of honey ... guessing around 15-20lb of honey each hive

A colony will need twice that to get through winter, depending on Italian winters, of course.

UK guide weight is 20kg.

 

[italic63]

So after a couple of days of that flight activity in front of the blue hive, today the weather is colder (but normal for this time of the year) and to my dismay I find all the bees from the blue colony dead . The other two seem ok.
No idea what happened. Could it be that something got into the hive that killed them off?
I treated all 3 hives a couple of weeks ago with Api bioxal but 2 seem fine.
Depressed…

 

[Antipodes]

So after a couple of days of that flight activity in front of the blue hive, today the weather is colder (but normal for this time of the year) and to my dismay I find all the bees from the blue colony dead . The other two seem ok.
No idea what happened. Could it be that something got into the hive that killed them off?
I treated all 3 hives a couple of weeks ago with Api bioxal but 2 seem fine.
Depressed…

That's bad. Sorry to hear that. Were there inches of dead bees on the floor? What did the frames look like? Were there eggs and other brood? Was it robbed out perhaps?

 

[italic63]

Good morning.
So inspected the dead hive this morning and I think it’s definitely been robbed…
1. Other two hives normal activity
2. Blue hive plenty of dead bees on the ground in front of the hive
3. Mountains of chewed wax in the bottom tray and on the floor of the hive
4. Frames bone dry except for pollen
5. Frame cells where honey used to be completely destroyed and dry

Please see videos attached

 

[judy12]

I'm very sorry to hear that. It's a horrible thing to happen. Just a thought - your two hives seem very close together. Do they need to be? I would choose, myself, to have them further apart. What do others think?

 

[Sutty]

I'm very sorry to hear that. It's a horrible thing to happen. Just a thought - your two hives seem very close together. Do they need to be? I would choose, myself, to have them further apart. What do others think?

I have many of mine that close without an issue, though there will inevitably be more drifting.
It can make unites or weakening a nuc easy.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

nothing wr

your two hives seem very close together. Do they need to be? I would choose, myself, to have them further apart. What do others think?

Nothing wrong with having them that close together

 

[ericbeaumont]

hives seem very close together

No, closeness of hives is not related to robbing. I sometimes have them closer than that, on pallets where the location prevents alternate entrance direction, and maybe a nuc or two on top.