Swarming?

[Simon Solar]

Im a beginner with one months experience so apology if this seems basic. Last week I just put on my first super (above the brood box) as all but two frames in the brood box had been worked. I noticed last night and this morning that a swarm had gathered around the entrance on the outside of the hive. The weather is breezy and overcast with imminent possibility of rain. The swarm on the outside seems very quiet and docile, with just the occasssional coming and going of a forager. Last week I removed some practice queencups, and could see eggs laid. As I said the gathered swarm on the outside is very quiet. Am I about to swarm? As my usual village advisor is away I would greatly appreciate any advice. Many thanks

 

[Apple]

Does not sound like a "swarm" of bees gathered on the outside of your hive, but it could be!
Perhaps gather all the bees collecting on the outside and put them in a nuc with some drawn frames, you could put the queen excluder over the nuc entrance, to prevent any possible queen from absconding.
If by the next day all the bees have left the nuc, it may have just been a gathering and the bees have returned to the main colony, if not you may well have caught a swarm, complete with a queen.
Then there is the dilemma of knowing if the queen you have is mated or not? and if to risk taking of the queen excluder!

Then of course possibly not!

James

 

[Simon Solar]

I'm not sure about the caught swarm as there was already an established nuc with mated queen seemingly to be doing well, and there doesn't seem to be any excitement about the bees, my only other thought might be the need to increase brood space for further egg laying. I will inspect inside the hive tomorrow when hopefully there is an improvement in the weather

 

[Moggett]

Your colony could be starting to release swarms. Check for mature queen cells.

Put your 'swarm' in a nuc as your old queen could be with them until you are sure. If they stay in the nuc there's a queen in there!

 

[aidskywalker]

Could be inadequate ventilation in the hive. Is your inspection tray in situ? If it is, remove it unless you are monitoring for mites. Is your entrance block in or out? Even though the weather appears over cast, it's still quite warm and even more so inside a hive full of bees.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Im a beginner with one months experience so apology if this seems basic. Last week I just put on my first super (above the brood box) as all but two frames in the brood box had been worked. I noticed last night and this morning that a swarm had gathered around the entrance on the outside of the hive. The weather is breezy and overcast with imminent possibility of rain. The swarm on the outside seems very quiet and docile, with just the occasssional coming and going of a forager. Last week I removed some practice queencups, and could see eggs laid. As I said the gathered swarm on the outside is very quiet. Am I about to swarm? As my usual village advisor is away I would greatly appreciate any advice. Many thanks

You say you removed practice queen cups but follow up to say you could see eggs laid. Please clarify as I don't know if you mean you saw eggs in the queen cups or in worker cells.

 

[GlenJ]

What you describe could easily also be "bearding" due to warm weather or lack of space in the hive for the bees (also temperature related) they also need space for drying nectar x2 that needed for the eventua honey.

 

[Simon Solar]

The entrance block was removed about two weeks ago, the eggs laid were not in the queen cups,only in the brood cells, and the varroa board is still in place. Just been out at this late hour, the bees are still clustered over the entrance, though they seem more spread out along the entrance, where as this morning they were grouped nearer the center. If my hive inspection doesn't reveal anything obvious I will follow the advice about transferring the cluster to a nuc box with a queen excluder over entrance. Many thanks for the advice

 

[GlenJ]

Depending on the size of the cluster, you may be panicking unduly. Bees do tend to hang out when conditions permit. Pictures of the "swarm" would really help?

 

[Simon Solar]

Been trying to figure out how to add a picture, I took this morning but as of yet no success.

 

[drex]

Sounds like you are doing ok. Sounds like bearding to me. If no charged queen cells ( drop of brood food + larva) they are not swarming. Unlikely that a passing swarm would settle on the outside of an established hive. Think they are simply bearding. Leave them be.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Ft

The entrance block was removed about two weeks ago, the eggs laid were not in the queen cups,only in the brood cells, and the varroa board is still in place. Just been out at this late hour, the bees are still clustered over the entrance, though they seem more spread out along the entrance, where as this morning they were grouped nearer the center. If my hive inspection doesn't reveal anything obvious I will follow the advice about transferring the cluster to a nuc box with a queen excluder over entrance. Many thanks for the advice

If the varroa board is still in I would take it out as soon as possible. I only ever put one in for a maximum period of one week to check for mite drop or to make the hive dark for the first few days when hiving a new swarm.
You may find the bees are simply finding the heat inside oppressive and having a rest in the cooler air outside. Removing the varroa slide will ease conditions.

 

[idg]

Ft

If the varroa board is still in I would take it out as soon as possible. I only ever put one in for a maximum period of one week to check for mite drop or to make the hive dark for the first few days when hiving a new swarm.
You may find the bees are simply finding the heat inside oppressive and having a rest in the cooler air outside. Removing the varroa slide will ease conditions.

I agree!!

 

[YorkshireBees]

Been trying to figure out how to add a picture, I took this morning but as of yet no success.

When posting a reply clip on the paperclip symbol (attachments) it should open a new window then you can locate your photo and upload it.

 

[Simon Solar]

Thanks for the help, did remove the varroa board, nothing unusual during inspection. The bees did all return inside, so guess that bearding was happening. As I hadn't come across this term before, guess it was a beginners mistake! Have now left the varroa board off, looks like business as usual, but very busy as nice and sunny. Big thanks to all.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Uploading Photos

If you want to upload photos, there's a button marked "Manage Attachments" further down the message page under Additional Options. Use that and follow the pretty obvious procedure. The only other problem that might occur is that the photo is too large - bitwise. Most photo editing software will allow you to degrade the photo. I found this a bit of a pain so I now use an older camera for bee photos that does not produce high quality pix but its memory requirements are low enough to be accepted by the forum's system.

If you try to upload and it just won't work, the chances are that the picture is too large but I do not know what the size limit is.

CVB