Outside a recently captured swarm

[Jpsyndrome]

Hi there,
First time post. My 2nd year of beekeeping and a strange occurrence outside a recently hived swarm I managed to get.
I placed the swarm in hive 6 days ago, and they had settled in ok. I had been keeping an eye on the comings and goings to see if any pollen was coming in, was planning on an inspection in 5 or 6 days. When I looked at the outside of the hive I saw a clump of bees with a queen in the middle. She tried to get into the hive but was surrounded by workers (as per attached photo). The queen didnt look great and was slow moving/shaking. They then pretty much covered her and when I moved the bees off of her she was dead. Lots of bees then the outside of the hive fanning (as per picture). Was this a result of two queens (or more) duking it out from a cast swarm? Many thanks

 

[thedozzer]

Hi,
Think there are a number of reasons this could happen?
could be there was more than one queen in the swarm, or it could even be a usurpation swarm.

we don't seem to discuss them much as the Americans do, maybe our strains of bees are not so inclined, but its one explanation.

usurpation-a-colony-taken-over-by-a-foreign-swarm/

usurpation-colony-take-summer-swarms/

PS we have only been keeping bees for a few years so don't have any more experience than you.

 

[Bear]

Where did you get the swarm from? 3 or 4 years ago I was asked out to a swarm. I caught the queen and she behaved the exact way you described. Came back the next day and she was dead. The home owner panicked and sprayed the swarm with insecticide. That’s what killed the queen. He only confessed after I said it was strange and couldn’t work it out. Could that have happened to yours?

 

[Jpsyndrome]

Thanks for replies, I caught it from a friends house, she had not touched it. I guess when I do an inspection it may shed some light on it