Eric knockalt
New Bee
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2012
- Messages
- 83
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Wicklow
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 8-10
Hello n goodmorning
I shall give details of what i noticed before the swarm arrival yesterday.
On the two days previous i noticed that the hive in question had a small queen no eggs or brood stores n a little quantity of pollen i assumed she had stopped laying,found a QCon 1 of the frames open.Might be superceded and not mated i thought?
Next day thursday afternoon noticed a ball of bees in the grass in front of the hive,and a few bees running round each other some bees round a single bee ,some looked like they were being fed by others quite submissive these bees looked ,the others were being it looked like roughed up till they all fell of the front of the hive to the ground .
Checked the ball of bees and found the queen small one from the hive ,put her back accepted back ok,later on found ball of bees again this time queen not found.Just some of the things i saw.
Yesterday around 1.45 the sound we heard was the noise a swarm makes so loud and us sitting on the front step watching this unbelievable ,i know its not from any of the four hives in the garden due to checks i had already done on these hives and all still have they,re queens all still laying up well.no queen cells in any of these.
This was a sizable swarm which flew straight to this hive and entered right away took about 30-40 mins and the bees were in towards evening time bringing in pollen.
Would the bees have taken over this hive and got the old queen to leave ?
Did they know she was gone,maybe on a mating flight ?I thought they would of scouted a new home for a wee while.
Delighted i got this swarm and am greatful and feel very lucky it has happened this way round ,just thought i,d share and am interested in your thoughts.
Best Regards
Eric.
Beautiful morning here in Wicklow.
as requested bye wee betty
I shall give details of what i noticed before the swarm arrival yesterday.
On the two days previous i noticed that the hive in question had a small queen no eggs or brood stores n a little quantity of pollen i assumed she had stopped laying,found a QCon 1 of the frames open.Might be superceded and not mated i thought?
Next day thursday afternoon noticed a ball of bees in the grass in front of the hive,and a few bees running round each other some bees round a single bee ,some looked like they were being fed by others quite submissive these bees looked ,the others were being it looked like roughed up till they all fell of the front of the hive to the ground .
Checked the ball of bees and found the queen small one from the hive ,put her back accepted back ok,later on found ball of bees again this time queen not found.Just some of the things i saw.
Yesterday around 1.45 the sound we heard was the noise a swarm makes so loud and us sitting on the front step watching this unbelievable ,i know its not from any of the four hives in the garden due to checks i had already done on these hives and all still have they,re queens all still laying up well.no queen cells in any of these.
This was a sizable swarm which flew straight to this hive and entered right away took about 30-40 mins and the bees were in towards evening time bringing in pollen.
Would the bees have taken over this hive and got the old queen to leave ?
Did they know she was gone,maybe on a mating flight ?I thought they would of scouted a new home for a wee while.
Delighted i got this swarm and am greatful and feel very lucky it has happened this way round ,just thought i,d share and am interested in your thoughts.
Best Regards
Eric.
Beautiful morning here in Wicklow.
as requested bye wee betty
