Swarm taking over another swarm ?

[Eric knockalt]

Over the weekend I have had 2 swarms arrive at the same bait hive on a shed roof .
Swarm one covered 3frames probably a cast ,Sunday ,another swarm arrived at the same bait hive and seem to have taken over ,lots of fighting and casualties outside the hive ,when checked in the evening found bees balling a large queen on the floor ,I have not seen this before ,would this be common for the much larger prime swarm to takeover, covering all frames, ,will feed and leave till weekend see if they settle .

 

[fizzle]

Sounds like they could be from the same hive given time of year but then again you would expect that the prime swarm would have been first to leave the hive?

 

[Ian123]

Hi Eric I’ve had it happen myself and others here have posted about it before. Also more common in other races of bee. Ian

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

you would expect that the prime swarm would have been first to leave the hive?

It always does - the clue is in the name

 

[Dodge]

The prime swarm may have bivouac'd longer than a cast so the cast got to the bait hive first.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It always does - the clue is in the name

And is not always headed by the original mated queen.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

And is not always headed by the original mated queen.

And not always headed by a queen that is mated - period

 

[Ian123]

I doubt it’s anything to do with if they are from the same colony. It’s just a larger stronger swarm taking over, it was in my case anyway. I had a bait hive that for a while had been occupied by a small cast about grapefruit size and had drawn comb. When I eventually went to deal with them I lifted the lid to find the whole bb full.