maybe a long trip home (interrupted mating flight?)

[Cuckmere couple]

just been to out apiary to add clearer boards and the tell tale signs of a swarm with bees everywhere and collecting on the roof of a Q+ hive

i saw the q in the gathering clump and added her to a nuc which i left on the roof for the rest of the bees to enter (swarm reaction)

however

im now thinking it was probably a mating flight (i have 3 colonies there expecting newly mated queens v soon plus time of day and year) and i am wondering if i should just let them go as not sure which hive from....they are not from the hive they alighted on as was Q+ last week and MQ still in situ...

let go again or leave?

 

[Cuckmere couple]

well....

i went back and let the queen back into the clump of bees in the hope they were a mating flight and would steer her home

left the nuc next to them too

today, queen and bees all back in nuc....so must have been v small swarm...and laying

 

[Cuckmere couple]

so, this colony is doing v well....amazing that this seems to have been a swarm mid august and i wondered if a returning mating flight

it now has a good number of bees...the q is present and doing ok...though i have found what looks like a recent emerged QC

wonder if its a supersedure....didnt look through for an unmarked q but will keep an eye on this nuc to see if it makes it...seems strong enough to wiht 5 frames BIAS now

 

[Erichalfbee]

Swarm queens are often superseded
Best of luck with them
You might well be happily surprised in the spring.

 

[The Poot]

so, this colony is doing v well....amazing that this seems to have been a swarm mid august and i wondered if a returning mating flight

it now has a good number of bees...the q is present and doing ok...though i have found what looks like a recent emerged QC

wonder if its a supersedure....didnt look through for an unmarked q but will keep an eye on this nuc to see if it makes it...seems strong enough to wiht 5 frames BIAS now

They keep you guessing don’t they? Best to let them get on with things, I reckon.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

Swarm queens are often superseded
Best of luck with them
You might well be happily surprised in the spring.

thanks Dani

gave the update because i had posted this back in aug when i thought id nuc'd a returning mating flight and went back and added the q back into the clump of bees that hadnt entered the nuc i put her in (with QE on front entrance)

so interested to see if they do supercede...interested to know if mating would also be delayed for new q until spring or would daughter have already mated (hardly any drones about)

 

[Erichalfbee]

so interested to see if they do supercede...interested to know if mating would also be delayed for new q until spring or would daughter have already mated (hardly any drones about)

Virgin queens have a very narrow window for mating. A matter of weeks. If they aren’t mated in that window they become drone layers

 

[Erichalfbee]

gave the update because i had posted this back in aug when i thought id nuc'd a returning mating flight and went back and added the q back into the clump of bees that hadnt entered the nuc i put her in (with QE on front entrance)

Yes I remember that.
Bees continually surprise us and they have a way of surviving what we do to them

 

[Cuckmere couple]

Virgin queens have a very narrow window for mating. A matter of weeks. If they aren’t mated in that window they become drone layers

that was what i thought to be the case

interesting that i have seen people on here agree that a colony with a marked queen in sept has ended up with an unmarked but laying q in early spring/first inspection meaning they can mate successfully quite late on, even when drones seem v scarce

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

interesting that i have seen people on here agree that a colony with a marked queen in sept has ended up with an unmarked but laying q in early spring/first inspection meaning they can mate successfully quite late on, even when drones seem v scarce

but it also coincides with a time when most sensible beeks are inspecting less frequently (August onwards) so stage one ofthe supersedure could already have happened with mother and daughter happily coexisting until the spring

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’ve seen two queens in the spring but more often just a new queen

 

[Ian123]

Have mentioned before I’ve found 3 in 1 hive before

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Have mentioned before I’ve found 3 in 1 hive before

same here - the old three year old queen, the assumed overwintered supersedure daughter, then at the end of the summer they were joined by another unmarked queen