Swarmed and went back in hive?

Natureboy44 · May 3, 2020

Came out this morning to hear loud buzzing and found the bees had swarmed high into a bush out of reach, I watched for a while thinking of what to do and then noticed the hive front was literally covered in bees and loads of bees were in the air heading back to the hive. All has calmed down now and I assume they went back to the hive? A very small ball of bees left in front of hive but couldn't see a queen there. Just curious why do they swarm and then go back into the hive?

drex · May 3, 2020

Was the queen clipped? That is usual reason. Whatever , they will be off again very soon. Get in and have a look asap and then you will likely have to do some form of artificial swarm

enrico · May 3, 2020

Who knows why bees do things! Drex is on the nose.
E

Natureboy44 · May 3, 2020

drex said:
Was the queen clipped? That is usual reason. Whatever , they will be off again very soon. Get in and have a look asap and then you will likely have to do some form of artificial swarm

You were spot on she was clipped even though I was under the impression she hadn't been, found a small cluster of bees out the front of hive 40-50 and queen was there, the small cluster were super aggressive but bees from the hive ignored me I managed to put a nuc right next to them eventually queen went in now it's raining. She's currently in nuc with only 40ish bees majority of bees went back into hive. Even if new bees from the hive came near the small cluster seemed like they were attacking them!?

Small cluster might have been there in the long grass a couple of hours before I noticed.

drex · May 3, 2020

That number of bees will do nothing and you could lose more bees when the first virgin emerges. At least you know where the queen is ( or was). I would still AS.

Natureboy44 · May 3, 2020

drex said:
That number of bees will do nothing and you could lose more bees when the first virgin emerges. At least you know where the queen is ( or was). I would still AS.

Best way to proceed now and AS? Hive was pretty packed last time I checked I have 2 spare nucs and the nuc with queen in.