Wave Goodbye Say Hello

[Monsieur Abeille]

This morning my daughter runs in "Dad, whats happening at the hive, looks like a swarm". Looking out of the window it did indeed.

Hurriedly dressing and slipping into suit I went over to the hives, and my "nice" colony was indeed blackening the air, so my immediate thought was "Ah well, sit back and enjoy the spectacle, and hopefully follow them". Except when I looked at the entrance I could see that they were going back in rather than legging it.

Stayed watching with family while the air around the hive got black with thousands of bees patiently queuing up to get back into the hive. Only took a few minutes, even with an entrance reducer in, but a great sight.

A week ago I suspected this hive of being q-, could seen no eggs or larva. There were queen cells, but the only good ones were capped. I decided to leave two as I didnt know what their contents were.

Inspected yesterday and could just see one, capped, QC left. I left it again, as I didn't know where they were with a queen.

I assume that the leaving and returning this morning meant they didn't have a queen with them for some reason. Am I also right in assuming that they are now fixed in their mind that this is what they want to do eventually and I need to act to try and stop it? Or may they just decide that they've had their fun? There is plenty of space in the hive, too much in fact as the brood area is dwindling.

 

[Swarm]

Personally, I'd just carry on with weekly inspections and see what transpires. It's not unheard of for bees to do this swarm and return.

 

[Steve Dyer]

My neighbour had a similar thing. They left with a queen, but she was under the hive and only a few bees found her. The rest flew around at tree-top height and then returned into the hive. If there really is only one queen cell and no other slimline, high-speed and generally invisible virgin queen in yours then in theory that last cell should produce a queen for that hive.

Take a careful look at the "capped" queen cell. Sometimes the queen emerges and the flap returns exactly to place and it looks capped... If its empty you may have a problem.

 

[Black Comb]

Are you sure it's not a queen mating flight?

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Are you sure it's not a queen mating flight?

Not sure, but the quantity of bees that were out suggested the bulk of the colony

 

[clare p]

Mine did this for 3 consecutive days (early May) at exactly the same time of day until I did an AS. The reason for mine returning to the hive was that the queen had been clipped, probably not the case with you.
Wonder what will happen with yours.

 

[kazmcc]

On the day I suspect our queen was taken, just before I got there, the guy on the next plot said he was "attacked" by thousands of bees and had to hide in his greenhouse ( although he wasn't stung once....but I know what he means ) I assumed it was the eejits bees who nicked our queen as when I went in there didn't seem to be any losses, but when I got there my bees were obviously upset and all over the front of the hive. Could this be what happened to ours? They left then came back? Problem is they wouldn't have had a queen to swarm with.

Maybe they were protesting the sudden intrusion. I wish I'd seen it though. I've never seen thousands of bees in the air.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Mine did this for 3 consecutive days (early May) at exactly the same time of day until I did an AS. The reason for mine returning to the hive was that the queen had been clipped, probably not the case with you.
Wonder what will happen with yours.

Queen certainly not clipped - the old one wasn't and I suspect she'd been killed or superseded anyway.

Maybe they were protesting the sudden intrusion. I wish I'd seen it though. I've never seen thousands of bees in the air.

Its a fantastic sight Kaz, and consistent with your chap being "attacked" - absolutely no interest in us standing there in out suits at all, so they may well have been thinkling about a swarm

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Ah well, if unsubstantiated reports from the homestead of "large gatherings of wasps in a hedge that have just taken off in a black cloud" are based on accuracy then it sounds like they've upped and left.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Checked this hive last night - I'm not sure if some have swarmed but there still appear to be a lot of bees in there. They also still have the 2 QCs intact (dont know how I missed the second one yesterday).

Either some have swarmed, or they repeated Sundays jaunt and returned.

Still baffled, will have to wait and see what they do next, unless anyone has any better idea.