Might have caught my first warm

[Zante]

Why "might"?

The frames I put in as bait had still a bit of stores, so they might have been robbing.

What makes me think it might be a swarm is this:

1. started raining, the bees were still in the nuc. Didn't rain much, I'd call it hardly a drizzle, but the sky was quite ominous, and I wouldn't expect bees to fly much.
2. There are bees are flying in what looks like orientation flights in front of the nuc. Might only look like orientation flights, so hardly conclusive.
3. Quite a few dead bees in front of the nuc, and occasionally a bee checks the corpses. I'm guessing there were robbers when the swarm moved in and they were killed, if we're talking about a swarm, that is...

Of course, the proof will be: are the bees still in there at night?

In the meantime, what do you think?

 

[enrico]

Wait until tonight!!!! Good luck
E

 

[beeno]

Can't wait and see!

 

[Zante]

Nah, just a crapload of robbers.
Oh well, the trap is still out anyway.

Odd thing about all those dead bees though, that's mainly what gave me hope.

 

[mickbees23]

Bees bringing pollen in is the best sign as they don't take it away...LOL

The most obvious though is to take the roof off and have a look ;-)

 

[Zante]

Bees bringing pollen in is the best sign as they don't take it away...LOL

The most obvious though is to take the roof off and have a look ;-)

Yeah, true, and that's how I checked once it was evening

I let them bee (aha) mostly because I didn't want to disturb them and have them abscond in case it was a swarm.

 

[Zante]

Ok, this time it actually might be a swarm.
Unlikely to be robbers because there shouldn't be anything left to rob, but let's see.

If it is indeed a swarm I'll have to get a hive for them, the one I thought I'd use for a swarm is now occupied by a split. Depending on how big it is they might be ok in the nuc for a while, it is a 6 frame dadant after all.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ok, this time it actually might be a swarm.

Only one way to tell
Look inside

 

[Zante]

Only one way to tell
Look inside

Indeed, but later, when it's dark.

 

[Zante]

Nah... nuc is empty.

I wonder what they were looking for all afternoon though...