My wally went AWOL

[Obee1]

So I did a wally aka snelgrove 2 on two hives on Friday. Queens couldn't be found so just moved the colony and put a frame of brood on the original site. Returned today a week later to find one hive has torn down their QC and is thriving. Eggs in parent hive and eQC in A/S. Tore them down as don't want a queen from this stock. The other one done exactly the same - but only 3 seams of bees in the a/s and some eQC which I removed. The parent colony no eggs no tiny larvae no queen. I reckon they sneaked off as soon as I went to London on the weekend. The silver lining is they were my mean bees. And what's left of them is equally mean. Good luck to anyone that caught the swarm!- however they are in the middle of the countryside so I suspect no one found them. As they are now hopelessly queen-less (I think!) I plan to requeen - but having learnt from past mistakes will put a test frame in first.

Just to clarify - this is not my garden hive that I demaree'd then did an a/s afterwards - the one I put a QE across the entrance of. This is a whole other problem hive!

 

[idg]

Out of interest, how far did you move the parent colony from the original (now A/S) location? Were the entrances pointing the same way?

 

[REDWOOD]

Over three feet usually


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[idg]

Yes I was just wondering if Obee1 had left them closer together causing the flyers to find their way back to the queen. This would result in small amount of bees in AS, and swarm fever still in parent colony. After subsequent swarm that would leave the scenario Obee1 is facing.
Just a thought!

 

[Tremyfro]

Hurrah...the mean bees are over the horizon and far away! Just make sure they can't come back and colonise any empty kit!

 

[Obee1]

Out of interest, how far did you move the parent colony from the original (now A/S) location? Were the entrances pointing the same way?

I moved them maybe 10 feet - but entrance faces same way -
Didn't know that mattered. But next time....

 

[Obee1]

Hurrah...the mean bees are over the horizon and far away! Just make sure they can't come back and colonise any empty kit!

You are so right. I'm delighted to get shot of em. I couldn't find the queen and thy were too awful to spend time hunting. Now they are hopelessly queenless - cos I tore down the QC which were all grubs - one of which was sealed. Now I can requeen what's left.

 

[Tremyfro]

You are so right. I'm delighted to get shot of em. I couldn't find the queen and thy were too awful to spend time hunting. Now they are hopelessly queenless - cos I tore down the QC which were all grubs - one of which was sealed. Now I can requeen what's left.

I detect a certain gleefulness and a tee hee...in your post. You do realise they are at this very moment begging their way into someone's bait hive. So meek and mild until they get their hands on some comb!

 

[Obee1]

They really are in the middle of farmers fields, trees and hedgerows. I suspect they've gone into a tree somewhere. Thankfully my bait hive -which was my spare hive kit- got used to make their home so I don't have one out atm. Funnily enough the nearest beek is Pete the treasurer from Cardiff and vale association. He doesn't try to collect swarms though. In fact I feel slightly better knowing his bees swarmed last week and the farmer had to ring me cos she lost his number. (No I didn't go steal his swarm as nantmoel suggested!)

 

[Fatbee]

The only problem is that she will somewhere be producing drones to mate with any new queens you raise (sorry don't mean to depress you!)

 

[Obee1]

The only problem is that she will somewhere be producing drones to mate with any new queens you raise (sorry don't mean to depress you!)

Good point. But I have ordered some nice new Bucky queens that will be requeening all my hives this year.

 

[Eyeman]

So I did a wally aka snelgrove 2 on two hives on Friday. Queens couldn't be found so just moved the colony and put a frame of brood on the original site.

Could the second colony have swarmed before you did the Snelgrove 2?
We're there any eggs or capped QC's?

 

[Obee1]

Could the second colony have swarmed before you did the Snelgrove 2?
We're there any eggs or capped QC's?

Don't think so. There were lots of bees, some eggs and a few Qcells but not capped. Couldn't spot queenie - she's not marked.

The bit that baffles me is that there are 3 seams of bees in the a/s. So why did they fly there and not go with the swarm. Was swotting up on swarms - apparently upto 75% of the bees leave. Assume the ones in my a/s are the ones that didn't swarm but went out foraging that day and returned to where they normally live.

So... What do I do with what's left. 3 seams in a/s and some bees in parent with the brood - no eggs obviously. Can I just join the boxes together or should I fit the frames back in to one box. As there is no queen or eggs I need to sort either a queen or an amalgamation with another colony.

 

[Eyeman]

As they are now hopelessly queen-less (I think!) I plan to requeen - but having learnt from past mistakes will put a test frame in first.

Amalgamate the 2 part of the AS into one hive and put test frame in from a hive you would want to breed from. Let them raise a new queen if they are queenless.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Don't think so. There were lots of bees, some eggs and a few Qcells but not capped. Couldn't spot queenie - she's not marked.

Looks like a strong possibility they had already swarmed - they don't always wait for the QC's to be capped. Unless you open up within a few hours of the swarm happening you may not notice a difference in the population as there would be emerging bees supplementing the colony, foragers returning and many of the original bees that went with the swarm do eventually return to the parent hive once the swarm has settled elsewhere. Doubt it's anywhere near 75% disappears, unless you include any subsequent casts.