Strange swarm

[Abbee]

Hi all.
We found a swarm hovering around the hives but very odd.
They were collecting in 3 places, on the bush, and on 2 fence posts behind the row of hives. But small.
Also we've had showers of rain all day and it's very cold.

Don't know which hive they've come out of yet.
We have 2 hives with queens and 1 which lost a queen 2 weeks ago and 1 whose queen swarmed and a 1 with the captured swarm and 3 other hives that are split swarms.
Just had another look and the ones on the Bush have joined one of the ones on the post

 

[Ian123]

Could well be a cast with multiple queens causing them to split.

 

[Swarm]

Hi all.
We found a swarm hovering around the hives but very odd.
They were collecting in 3 places, on the bush, and on 2 fence posts behind the row of hives. But small.
Also we've had showers of rain all day and it's very cold.

Don't know which hive they've come out of yet.
We have 2 hives with queens and 1 which lost a queen 2 weeks ago and 1 whose queen swarmed and a 1 with the captured swarm and 3 other hives that are split swarms.
Just had another look and the ones on the Bush have joined one of the ones on the post

They sometimes split like that, Abbee. Give them a while to settle down and they generally form into one cluster. The rain should help.

 

[beeno]

I had that happen once. The two swarms joined together and I caged the queen, but they refused to go into the nuc. Then I saw another queen and put her into the nuc and removed the caged one. Now they went in. On closer inspection I realised the one they did not want was an intercaste queen.

 

[Abbee]

Yes you're absolutely right they eventually joined together.
And then we managed to catch them into a nuc before the heavens opened. Feel so bad for the ones left behind in the rain.

 

[Abbee]

They're all in now ! Yeah!

 

[Swarm]

Well done.

 

[beeno]

They're all in now ! Yeah!

Well done. If they get off to a slow start it may be that you still have more than one queen in there. It is more common than beeks realise.
Actually, it is bad to collect swarms in the rain. They are more prone to die from rain and cold whilst if they are clustered the rain runs off the outer layer of the cluster. So, you did the right thing even if it was unintentional!

 

[Swarm]

I suppose you could leave them hanging in the pouring rain for days and go collect them when the sun comes out.
Or you can get them tucked up nicely in a warm box before it starts pouring.

 

[Tim.S]

I had a huge swarm today from elsewhere that split into 5 close together. Found one marked queen (not mine thankfully!) boxed them as one and they seem happy. If it were later in the season I would be much more cautious but hopefully swarms at the moment are mostly prime.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I suppose you could leave them hanging in the pouring rain for days and go collect them when the sun comes out.
Or you can get them tucked up nicely in a warm box before it starts pouring.

 

[pargyle]

I suppose you could leave them hanging in the pouring rain for days and go collect them when the sun comes out.
Or you can get them tucked up nicely in a warm box before it starts pouring.

Yeh that ...

Personally ... I'd have gone for it. I have a big fishing umbrella for the odd occasion when rain is going to be a problem.

 

[Heather]

I once called to 'a swarm'. when i got there - 3 independent large clumps of bees hanging along a branch. Seemed very settled as 3 units. I boxed up all 3 individually, then went and grabbed a cuppa with the caller whilst they settled. On going back, one box empty, with two uniting. Left me with a large colony and ? cast. Took both home and hived both. One colony lovely , the smaller anxious and unhappy. On inspection, no V queen seen there..
Conclusion.. One very big swarm.. united to one. Job done.

 

[beeno]

I once called to 'a swarm'. when i got there - 3 independent large clumps of bees hanging along a branch. Seemed very settled as 3 units. I boxed up all 3 individually, then went and grabbed a cuppa with the caller whilst they settled. On going back, one box empty, with two uniting. Left me with a large colony and ? cast. Took both home and hived both. One colony lovely , the smaller anxious and unhappy. On inspection, no V queen seen there..
Conclusion.. One very big swarm.. united to one. Job done.

Interesting... Sometimes I think we hive them too quickly. I hived one of my own PDQ as it was outside my boundary. Put QX over nuc which was empty in the morning. They had gone back to the original hive as the Q did not go with them. Had one swarm that would not settle after being hived and it had two queens in it. Keeps you on your toes!

 

[masterBK]

They do come in threes sometimes!

 

[beeno]

They do come in threes sometimes!

Any hypothesis as to why from you. Nice pics.

 

[masterBK]

Just a faint side reference to the saying " you wait for a bus for hours and then three come along together" . The three large swarms were in a tree next to an apiary containing over 20 colonies. The three castes (or maybe one caste that split because it contained several queens) emerged from a colony in a chimney. The prime swarm from the chimney issued a week earlier and was collected by a beekeeper from the next county who was in need of bees and prepared to travel 25 miles to collect it . The house owner phoned him about the three small after "swarms" but he wasn't interested so for good PR I collected them all into one 5 comb nucleus box) treated it with oxalic for Varroa (it dropped alot of Mites) and requeened it after a month with a decent queen and donated it to one of our beginners and it built up into a decent colony. This all happened in 2010.