Mating flights

[Dadnlad]

History - having found 2 suspected supercedure cells in a strong hive, we removed Q into a nuc as have had ss turn into swarms before. Virgin was due to emerge middle of last week

Got a call today to say there there had been much swirling of bees and there was a swarm in an espaliered apple tree close by the apiary.
I was in the process of smoking them up into a swarm box (as it was impossible to shake them off) when there was an audible increase of 'buzz' and more bees in the air not just walking up into the box

Managed to get most bar a few stragglers into the box, back to the apiary, noticed much fanning at the entrance to the ss hive. Guessing I had inadvertently boxed a mating flight, I shook the contents onto a ramp and everyone walked in - most satisfying

I hadn't realised that so many bees left at the time of the mating flight. There was no discernible difference in size of 'cluster' from a large cast

Does the Q fly off independently from her 'entourage' to mate ?
Do they then sit in a cluster waiting for her return - rather than heading home ?
If so, the increase in flying bees and rise in buzzing would likely be the cluster knowing she was back in their hive and trying to follow ?

So much still to learn I'm afraid I still feel like a beginner sometimes

 

[Heather]

I thought only a few went with her, if any, so this is strange behaviour.. will be interested to see more replies. Sounds more like swarm but queen didn't go with them so they returned...

 

[madasafish]

You could have missed a QC, bees tried to swarm, queen did not go with them.. eventually returned to hive.

Had that twice..

Then bees swarmed properly two days later.

You call tell mating flights - lots of drones.. and they don't hang in trees... and drones leave every hive - not just one..

 

[Ian123]

If the hive threw a cast the other virgin would not go on a mating flight the same day. Or have I got your order wrong.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I hadn't realised that so many bees left at the time of the mating flight. There was no discernible difference in size of 'cluster' from a large cast

Usually not many bees leave with her on her mating flight but ocasionally (not very often) I think the bees get over excited and leave with her, realise their error and mill about for a while before either hanging up in a tree for a while or returning to the hive (seen it happen both ways.)

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hanging in a tree

That’s what the bees did off camera in the video I linked to.

 

[beeno]

You had two "supersedure" cells in the hive and you removed the Q = potentially a host of emergency queen cells as well. Prepare for a lot of swarming. That was an aborted swarm attempt you witnessed. You should have opened the hive to attempt to remove virgins and leave yourself one in the hive to avoid losing bees. Let's hope you are working from home tomorrow.

 

[StephenT]

When one of our hives was requeening I got a shout from my wife to come out as she thought they may be swarming (it’s all relatively new to us still). There were a lot of bees flying around about at about 6 foot above the hive. A lot more and higher than a busy bunch of orientation flights. This happened a couple of times and when we looked at the dates a few weeks later, it corresponded to about the time she would have mated.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

you had two "supersedure" cells in the hive and you removed the q = potentially a host of emergency queen cells as well. Prepare for a lot of swarming. That was an aborted swarm attempt you witnessed. You should have opened the hive to attempt to remove virgins and leave yourself one in the hive to avoid losing bees. Let's hope you are working from home tomorrow.

 

[drex]

You had two "supersedure" cells in the hive and you removed the Q = potentially a host of emergency queen cells as well. Prepare for a lot of swarming. That was an aborted swarm attempt you witnessed. You should have opened the hive to attempt to remove virgins and leave yourself one in the hive to avoid losing bees. Let's hope you are working from home tomorrow.

I believe I am good at spotting queens. Virgins are a different matter. I would never be confident about removing all but one virgin.

 

[beeno]

When one of our hives was requeening I got a shout from my wife to come out as she thought they may be swarming (it’s all relatively new to us still). There were a lot of bees flying around about at about 6 foot above the hive. A lot more and higher than a busy bunch of orientation flights. This happened a couple of times and when we looked at the dates a few weeks later, it corresponded to about the time she would have mated.

Or had to swarm because of a missed QC.

 

[beeno]

View attachment 18320

Looking in the hives and finding missed QC, vacated queen cells and piping virgins does it for me. You are the pig-headed one actually only resorting to insults.

 

[beeno]

I believe I am good at spotting queens. Virgins are a different matter. I would never be confident about removing all but one virgin.

They do pipe in all the excitement which helps. I heard one on a frame this season that I initially could not see, put the frame in a nuc and found her later. In this case many QC may still be intact as the Q was removed. Doing nothing is not an option for me anymore.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

By the looks of the last few posts you judge everyone by your own ineptness

 

[Erichalfbee]

Dadnlad
In case you missed this video in another thread.
A substantial number of bees took off and clustered in a tree a few yards away from their hive. It looked like a sizeable cast. They hung around for fifteen minutes then returned to their hive where they covered the front with a swathe of fanning bees for another fifteen minutes. Then the queen came home. You can see her at around 1.20 ish.
Mating swarms do happen.
I have seen aborted swarms too but the queen was either clipped or damaged.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ckjzizd209bbhcr/Video 15-06-2020, 21 43 36.mov?dl=0

 

[beeno]

By the looks of the last few posts you judge everyone by your own ineptness

Have you not got it yet, that people only agree with you, because of all the abuse?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Play nice in the beginners section please.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Personally I’d love to know what happens so please keep us in the loop.

 

[Swarm]

A similar incident a few weeks ago as I was packing up to leave. Noticed a lot of activity at the front of one nuc, much too busy for orientation flights. I went to investigate if it was robbing but the other entrances were all normal.
Then I noticed the swirl of bees, a bit like a twister drifting slowly across the yard behind the hives. They never got higher than fifteen to twenty feet and dispersed when they reached the trees at the perimeter. Nothing hanging, no cluster and back at the nuc, more activity but this time more orderly as they headed inside.
Looking forward to checking her brood pattern and new bees soon.

 

[Dadnlad]

Erichalfbee - that does sound (the offscreen bit) pretty similar

Beeno - No EQC's as we knew from pagdens to go back into the Q- half 4-5 days later

Nevertheless got me worried, so checked on them on the way home from work. One opened cell, one being torn down (the two we left on a pinned frame), bees calm and patches of polished cells
Going to leave her to it now