Queen off on mating flight?

[jackbee]

Collected a swarm last night, on a post, not the easiest for my first. But I was just the helper so a great experience.

pic of swarm

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anyway, back to subject. Looked out at 11 this morning to see lots of bees in air, oh bugger i thought, they're off, didn't like the wallpaper!

View attachment 6597

and a vid, bees in air

But it calmed down down within the next half hour so I think it might have been the queen had gone off on a mating flight and they were a bit perturbed! And all seems normal now.

What do people think?

 

[Finman]

.
At least they do not come out for mating flight.

And mating flight are in afternoon 14-15 mostly.

 

[thedeaddiplomat]

If it was a swarm, then surely it will include a mated Queen?

If it was a cast, then it would have a virgin Queen. But I certainly don't know enough about all of this to hazard a guess from your picture which it might have been. (Nor do I know whether a virgin Queen would have set off quite so quickly for a mating flight)

Let's hope an expert will be along in a moment...

 

[jackbee]

yep agreed, cast would have virgin, primary would have already mated Q. Both are types of swarm

I'm not sure how long it takes for a cast Q to go on a mating flight, hopefully someone will come along who does

 

[steve1958]

From what the video shows, they are not swarming.
The Bees are flying around the Hive, not away from it.
Possibly an orientation flight, finding out where their new home is sited?

 

[jackbee]

From what the video shows, they are not swarming.
The Bees are flying around the Hive, not away from it.
Possibly an orientation flight, finding out where their new home is sited?

they're still here, and collecting so they didn't swarm again.

I thought orientation was more sedate, seen them doing circles earlier but not as hectic as this and they weren't clustered on hive

 

[Finman]

If it was a swarm, then surely it will include a mated Queen?

If it was a cast, then it would have a virgin Queen. ...

Swarm is swarm and that is it. The queen may be mated or not mated and that is it.

When we look wing clipped swarm, it returns to the hive when it sees that the queen does not follow the swarm. - So look closer, the swarm does not return to the the unproper queen. It returns to home.

Then bees wait that a new virgin emerges and is ready to fly. So the primary swarm goes with new virgin. I have had swarms which had 5 virgins.

 

[AndreaW]

yep agreed, cast would have virgin, primary would have already mated Q. Both are types of swarm

I'm not sure how long it takes for a cast Q to go on a mating flight, hopefully someone will come along who does

I'm sure I read somewhere that she is ready to fly 5 days after emerging from cell.

 

[jackbee]

I'm sure I read somewhere that she is ready to fly 5 days after emerging from cell.

she's definitely flying as we collected the swarm from a post on the edge of a cricket pitch. i was windering how long she takes to settle in new home before going out to mate?

 

[Beanwood]

Swarm is swarm and that is it. The queen may be mated or not mated and that is it.

When we look wing clipped swarm, it returns to the hive when it sees that the queen does not follow the swarm. - So look closer, the swarm does not return to the the unproper queen. It returns to home.

Then bees wait that a new virgin emerges and is ready to fly. So the primary swarm goes with new virgin. I have had swarms which had 5 virgins.

Thanks Finman - that makes perfect sense. It's not something I had considered before, but now you write it, it seems obvious.

I will put this down as something I have learned today.

 

[jackbee]

Then bees wait that a new virgin emerges and is ready to fly. So the primary swarm goes with new virgin. I have had swarms which had 5 virgins.

i thought that primary swarm will occur when Q cell is capped and that original Q will go with it.

Any further swarms are then casts and they will have virgins!

 

[jackbee]

ah, do you mean, Q attempts a swarm but because of clipped wings returns and then new Qs hatch and so one the new virgins forms the prime? Interesting!

 

[Beanwood]

ah, do you mean, Q attempts a swarm but because of clipped wings returns and then new Qs hatch and so one the new virgins forms the prime? Interesting!

If I've understood correctly - doesn't matter if the Q returns or not (Clipped wings - she can't get back in to the hive as she can't fly) - the remainder of the colony decide to follow the Q that can fly - i.e. the newly hatched virgin (Or 5!!) !

 

[jackbee]

If I've understood correctly - doesn't matter if the Q returns or not (Clipped wings - she can't get back in to the hive as she can't fly) - the remainder of the colony decide to follow the Q that can fly - i.e. the newly hatched virgin (Or 5!!) !

i think i get it, colony is in swarm mode, and prime would normally go with original Q but since she's not there and new virgin(s) have hatched they go with whatever Q is handy!!

 

[Finman]

I'm sure I read somewhere that she is ready to fly 5 days after emerging from cell.

Yes, the swarming virgin stays in the cell 2 days and is ready to flye when it gomes out. They piip to each other and they do not come out. There may be 10 ready queens piiping in cells.

In normal situation a queen comes out and is very soft and cannot flye.

So 5 days + 2 days in the cell = 7 days.

When the swarm leaves, the rest of queens come out and start to fight.

 

[Finman]

If I've understood correctly - doesn't matter if the Q returns or not (Clipped wings - she can't get back in to the hive as she can't fly) - the remainder of the colony decide to follow the Q that can fly - i.e. the newly hatched virgin (Or 5!!) !

I would say that if the clipped queen swarms, it allways will die into lawn.
Bees will not stay or protect with queen. It seems that it is a test, if the swarm is able to move to the new area and build a new home there.

Clipped queen does not return to the hive.

 

[Finman]

.
If there are several rainy days, and the colony cannot swarm, swarm may have all kinds of queens, laying + virgins.

 

[jackbee]

honestly! you'd swear the bees were wild animals and hadn't even read the books tut-tut: willy_nilly: