swarm throws a cast after 24 hours?

[trapperman]

I caught my first swarm yesterday, a nice big one about the size of a rugby ball, it was 50m from my hives but not from them as i split my only hive 4 ways a few weeks ago ( i also checked them yesterday when i saw the swarm just incase and they are all still there).

But i was just down at my holding and saw a small swarm come from the hive i put the swarm in yesterday, i let them settle on a nearby silver birch 2 foot off the ground, thing is they are only small about 1/5 of the swarm from yesterday.

I had a look in the topbar hive which i put the swarm in yesterday and they are still there hanging from the bars making wax all very busy.

Why have they done this? could there have been 2 queens?

I`m just off back down now to put this cast in a nuc box.

 

[Gwenen]

Hello Trapperman. Although I can't answer your question, I've got a similar one which I thought might be relevant.

We caught a swarm today that issued from one of our hives. It's now in a (national) brood chamber with roof. While some of the swarm were still flying around their new home, we noticed two distinct queens.

One scuttled straight into the new hive off the cardboard slope we'd put at the entrance. The second was slightly smaller and had a bit of trouble getting through the crowd at the front- she then flew off.

So I'm wondering if it's possible that 2 queens left with the original swarm, and is this therefore - as you suggested- what prompts further, smaller swarms from the first? (and should we now expect a second swarm from our bees?)

 

[Midland Beek]

Might have been two queens. Alternatively, the branch you got the swarm off would still be scented and may have just attracted a lot of bees.

Collect a swarm only 50m from your hives and that kind of says they very likely came from one of your colonies.

And a big swarm is the size of an ironing board. A rugy ball would make me thing 'second swarm'.

 

[Tom Bick]

A couple of weeks ago I attracted a swarm to one of my bait hives and was able to watch it arrive and it was pretty big on arrival.

I inspected it 6 days later only to find a lot less bees than first moved in at least half from my calculation, it was however a laying queen as I had a few eggs.

When I relayed this to an experienced beekeeper he said you perhaps had two queens at first and they sorted themselves out and split. So perhaps it is possible.

 

[trapperman]

Might have been two queens. Alternatively, the branch you got the swarm off would still be scented and may have just attracted a lot of bees.

Collect a swarm only 50m from your hives and that kind of says they very likely came from one of your colonies.

And a big swarm is the size of an ironing board. A rugy ball would make me thing 'second swarm'.

The swarm today went to a different tree only 10m from the hives, there were a few bees buzzing around the original swarm area but not to many.

I did think "bugger i lost a swarm" when i first saw them but even tho as you say maybe not the biggest swarm in the world, i would notice the decline in bees from 1 of 3 nucs or the original hive that i split from, but there seemed no decline in numbers at all.

I put a nuc box on an old pot right under the small swarm today and they started moving down into it straight away, after about 20mins all in bar a few flyers.

I will have to look through both in a couple of weeks to see if there was 2 queens or not, i will let you know.

 

[Howsoonisnow]

My best guess is that your swarm was a cast (secondary) swarm with a least two virgin queens in and the 'swarm' emerging was one of the virgins followed by drones and other excited bees on her mating flight or re-swarming. The latter I've either just made up or I don't know naything about!

 

[trapperman]

You can just about make out the first swarm in the middle

Just after shaking into topbar

todays cast

 

[Silly Bee]

Might have been two queens. Alternatively, the branch you got the swarm off would still be scented and may have just attracted a lot of bees.

Collect a swarm only 50m from your hives and that kind of says they very likely came from one of your colonies.

And a big swarm is the size of an ironing board. A rugy ball would make me thing 'second swarm'.

The swarm I caught yesterday was about 10 feet from one of my hives, but not from them. They were seen drifting across the alottments.

 

[trapperman]

The swarm I caught yesterday was about 10 feet from one of my hives, but not from them. They were seen drifting across the alottments.

An old beekeeper i know said that swarms can be attracted to apairys because of the smell?

 

[Silly Bee]

Could well be the case. I also read that scout bees can follow foraging bees back.