mating flight / swarm ?

[newbie]

In what way does a mating flight differ from a swarm please ?

I was just cleaning out the chicken house at 2.30pm when I heard buzzing overhead and lots of bees flew south - they seemed to know where they were going, and weren't heading upwards. So I assume this was a small swarm.
They were coming from the direction of my hives.
Last week (7 days ago) I did have sealed QC in the hive, but only 3 and all on the face of the brood comb. I removed 1 and left the other 2 assuming they were supercedure QC. The queen in the colony was a 2012 queen, but there were no eggs last week and I couldn't find her. I intended leaving the colony for a few weeks.... as a mating flight is due sometime.
The bees had not used all the brood chamber for brood (there were 2 empty drawn frames) and also had plenty of room in the supers.

So either I've mis-read what was going on ... or (hopefully but unlikely) the swarm that went over was nothing to do with my bees !
Unfortunately I lost track of them as they went over the main road and into the valley (where there is another Beekeeper a few fields away).
Should I have a look in my colony tomorrow ?

Opinions please ! - should I have done something different ?
Thanks all

 

[Finman]

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When the queen makes mating flight during a good day, there is no swarm formulation. Queen goes out several times a day and stays on flight some minutes. These have been researched and ecxplained quite well.

It is usual that house bees come out to orientation flight during hottest time of day 14-15. Debends if you have summer time.

I have had tens of mating nucs on my home yard but I have never seen strange mating flight formulation. Usually the queen mates during two days but some times it needs 3 days.

Before age of mating flights the queen visit often out. If you look the queen during a day, it is not there but in the evening it is again. If you see a string in queen abdomen, so you know that what she is doing.

 

[Finman]

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there are very small swarms too. If mating nuc becomes full, the queen swarms with cupfull of bees.

 

[oliver90owner]

Swarms follow queen cell building. Mating is associated with hives that had queen cells until recently, or cast swarms.

Bees don't just swarm and immediately disappear over the horizon. There is always a local collection point before final disappearance. You should be aware of queen cells or not in your hives on a weekly basis, so mating flights where there may be extra activity should be easily tracked on a time line.

there were no eggs last week and I couldn't find her

My simple conclusion of this is that she has gone already. Was the queen marked or clipped? The lesser probability is that she is still there and the workers just got to superceding in time. The beekeeper should have some idea of how the queen has been performing (at east noticed if there were changes to the brood nest size, pattern, etc etc). I would have looked again to confirm if not sure at the first inspection. She must have been there if it was supercedure.

as a mating flight is due sometime

You have no idea when? Time line again. Eight days to emergence from capping, a few days for her to mature and weather that is suitable for mating.

Finally, I fail to see any significance of bees flying towards another apiary unless that beek has some suitable bait hives awaiting.

Doubtfull that they built any more queen cells (observation of no eggs), but still possible, nevertheless; you should always check to avoid the risk of further casts. If there were two cells only, they would only cast once... and it is doubtful you could tell if they have.

So check by all means, but I doubt you are going to change anything for a more positive outcome, but you might ... if there are more capped quen cells.