Swallows eating my mating queens?

[ringtor]

Last year I split two hives and none of them ended up Q+. I blamed my ineptitude!
Now a swarm with a virgin queen has been quiet for a week and then gone bananas. Probably now Q-.
My head scratching has made me think that perhaps the swallows in the farm outbuildings are the culprits.
What do I do? Re-queen with a mated queen?

 

[REDWOOD]

Can you be a bit more specific when you say gone bananas as it might help us to understand the situation

 

[ringtor]

Swallows eating my mating queens

The swarm that had been normal for a week was foraging and seeming to be busy except for the drones.
Going bananas = flying around aimlessly in all directions and sounding angry.

 

[REDWOOD]

The swarm that had been normal for a week was foraging and seeming to be busy except for the drones.
Going bananas = flying around aimlessly in all directions and sounding angry.

orientation flights, new bees getting the hang of flying

 

[Into the lions den]

Swallows are quite often the cause of queens failing to return from flights. The bigger slower moving targets...........drones and queens...........are easy pickings.

Once, without thinking about it, located an apiary at OSR time beside a sand martin colony. They remained there till heather time when they were to be moved away. Whole apiary just failed to prosper, zero young queens mated, and despite plenty of brood they did not build up. Despite the carnage it was impressive to see all these birds sweeping through the flight paths.

We moved them away to another place late June for some respite, and they came on fine for the heather, but of course the young queens were gone.

So, yes, does sound like your queen MAY have become lost for whatever reason. You will never know but the swallows are a real live possible culprit.

 

[hiveabee]

I tend to think that swallows etc take bees regularly. Judging by the squadrons above my hives and I don't think they will realize the the queens on their mating flights should be left alone. I have blamed this problem of bird activity on more than one occasion. I have been told that when the queen goes out She takes with Her a number of workers to reduce the odds of Her getting eaten.