Queenless Swarm 2 times in 2 days?

[thedozzer]

Follwoying on from our previous post about the (Green) hive that swarmed on Tuesday 16th, we had a phone call from our neighbour yesterday 19th when we were about 60 miles away "have your bees escaped" apparently they were about 100mtrs down the road in one of his trees, when we got home all seemed normal as all the Hives had about the right amount of bees from Tuesdays split, no swarm to be seen!!

The first swarm is getting along well in its new (yellow) Hive with nectar & pollen going in, they seem settled, although we did hear the queen piping today?

So today the primary (Green) hive swarmed again, straight back to the same tree, stayed there for about 1 hour then came back to the hive as they have no queen, what have we done wrong?

we have broken down all but one of the viable QC's now and we have taken 3 frames of mainly capped brood including one open Viable QC and one of stores from the swarmed hive, and put that in a nuc as an insurance policy and give them more space.

So they have 4 new frames of foundation in the hive with one 3/4 full supper and a new untouched.
we are feeling a little bit lost what to do now, as we have followed all the normal advice that should deter swarming but they seem determined to swarm, even without a queen?

Most of the books dont seem to cover this sort of situation so any sensible pointers we would be grateful.

 

[enrico]

The swarming instinct is still strong. They might still swarm with the first virgin.there is nothing you can do. Some bees just want to reproduce. If you are lucky they will have calmed down and splitting the brood should have helped. Fingers crossed!
E

 

[thedozzer]

The swarming instinct is still strong. They might still swarm with the first virgin.there is nothing you can do. Some bees just want to reproduce. If you are lucky they will have calmed down and splitting the brood should have helped. Fingers crossed!
E

Hi Enrico thanks for that, did have a horrible feeling that may be the case but its our first full year, and wondered if the more experienced beeks like you may be able to see something wrong in what we have done and have some other ideas, as you feel quite useless watching all your foragers bugger off after your best efforts.

 

[enrico]

Don't get downhearted. Even experienced beekeepers don't stop swarming. The best way is to kill your queen's each year and requeen!
However even that isn't foolproof.
People who say their bees don't swarm mean that they have out apiaries and never see it happen!
Remember one thing. If your bees swarm you still have some left!
E

 

[Anduril]

Even experienced beekeepers don't stop swarming.

Is this a new phenomena Enrico?
Who will I be swarming with?

 

[enrico]

Is this a new phenomena Enrico?
Who will I be swarming with?

God, how I laughed when I read it back. I will always be your swarm mate. Thanks for the giggle!
E

 

[Hebeegeebee]

all the Hives had about the right amount of bees from Tuesdays split, no swarm to be seen!!

If you have a number of colonies in an apiary and one has swarmed, it is not so straight-forward to identify the swarmed one! Often the numbers of bees going in and out seems reasonable for a queenright hive as there will still be plenty of older flyers remaining in the colony, and often there are plenty of bees in the hive too once you look inside.

 

[thedozzer]

If you have a number of colonies in an apiary and one has swarmed, it is not so straight-forward to identify the swarmed one! Often the numbers of bees going in and out seems reasonable for a queenright hive as there will still be plenty of older flyers remaining in the colony, and often there are plenty of bees in the hive too once you look inside.

Hi Hebeegeebee, i think that they have swarmed queenless and come back twice after we caught the first cast with the queen https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=667954&postcount=1, as yesterday we watched them disperse from the tree and return to the hive, quite interesting to watch, as the first back were stood on the landing board, bums in the air fanning like mad, getting in the way of the bees that had stayed.

 

[Popparand]

Hi Hebeegeebee, i think that they have swarmed queenless and come back twice after we caught the first cast with the queen https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=667954&postcount=1, as yesterday we watched them disperse from the tree and return to the hive, quite interesting to watch, as the first back were stood on the landing board, bums in the air fanning like mad, getting in the way of the bees that had stayed.

Yep, I think that's what happened to our second swarm (cast). Time to rewrite the books?

 

[thedozzer]

Yep, I think that's what happened to our second swarm (cast). Time to rewrite the books?

Hi Popparand
they didn't swarm today, so knocking them back one more frame of brood yesterday has hopefully slowed their desire, we heard a queen piping again today but couldn't tell if it was from the main hive or the cast!