Smallest swarm ever

[Boston Bees]

I saw some aerial activity on a footpath near my house today and, lo and behold, there was a very small cluster of bees on a twig. It seemed so tiny that I thought it must be some confused bees following a mating flight, but hours later they are still there, so I guess they are a swarm. But honestly, I'm embarrassed to go and collect them. There must be 300 of them max. Why on earth did they bother?

 

[pargyle]

Because some bees are stupid ... Darwin will sort them out ...

 

[Erichalfbee]

No No......both of you
They are making a valiant effort to protect their queen
of course you have to save them
These swarmed form the colony in the tree box April 2018.I watched them leave, starvation swarm I presumed
I made a nuc up for the queen and she gave me a good few supers of honey that year and she was finally superseded this year.
Go and save them.
View attachment IMG_1461.mov

 

[pargyle]

Yes ... I would save them as well ... even if Darwin would have it otherwise - always been a sucker for a lost cause ... even some of those on here !

 

[RichardK]

... always been a sucker for a lost cause ... even some of those on here !

Thanks! I didn't know you cared!

 

[pargyle]

Present company excluded ....

 

[Angry_Mob]

Could have absconded from a mini mating nuc?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Could have absconded from a mini mating nuc?

It doesn't matter .....BB has to save them !!

 

[The Poot]

It doesn't matter .....BB has to save them !!

 

[Boston Bees]

I know, I know, I wasn't just going to leave them.

 

[gregior]

When I did my 1st inspections on a warm March day this year all my colonies were flying apart from 1 which I presumed had died out. I opened them up to find a tennis size cluster between 2 frames,maybe 150 bees and the Q. I swapped it's position with a stronger colony and today have had to add a fifth super. Don't give up on them!

 

[oliver90owner]

It is always possible, someone else has collected the majority and left a few bees behind which are clustering where the queen was…

Or a few bees have gone with a superceded queen, which was driven out of the hive rather than snuffed…

If there is a queen there, they would be a challenge to save, without some careful additions to reinforce their numbers, like gregior did. First check is for a queen, I suppose, otherwise no real hope.

 

[user 819]

I collected a similar scenario back in May, they were QL. I can only assume they were stragglers left behind from a swarm collected or a swarm that had moved on.