Were these my bees?

[Dogged]

My neighbour called me yesterday to say a swarm of bees was outside. When I went out there was no sign of bees anywhere - I went up on the roof for a good look around - we are surrounded by trees! No sign or sound of a swarm. I put on my gear and had a look at the hive, it seemed full of happy busy bees and no queen cells. How would I know if my hive had swarmed?

Apart from losing the opportunity of snaffling a new colony does it matter if they have swarmed?

 

[Erichalfbee]

If your hive had swarmed you would have no queen.

 

[Erichalfbee]

This is a good read and will explain lots of things about swarming

 

[Dogged]

My queen was unmarked and I am rubbish at spotting queens anyway.

So I wouldn't notice that the colony was noticeably diminished? would there not be at least one queen cell if they had swarmed? There have been no queen cells yet.

I realise there is nothing I can do is they have swarmed, I just wondered if I could tell by looking - other than there being no resident queen.

 

[Davelin]

You can't always notice a reduction in numbers, but you would definitely have a queen cell somewhere.

They can be well hidden

 

[Erichalfbee]

Look in on Saturday and look for eggs.
No eggs?
Get searching for queen cells ...but get back to us with a report before you actually destroy any.

I realise there is nothing I can do is they have swarmed

There is and you must.
You have to leave the bees just the one queen cell otherwise they will swarm again, even further reducing your colony.

Look on the bright side. They might not have swarmed at all.

 

[Dogged]

Oh I meant that there is nothing I can do to turn back the clock. I monitor for queen cells very carefully at this time of year and there really really weren't any queen cells - I am very familiar with these little beauties as they built them by the bucketful the last two years and I look for them very carefully ready to do an AS.

So maybe they weren't my bees she saw, fingers crossed... I'll do a good egg/QC hunt at the weekend; wish me sunshine.

 

[itma]

My neighbour called me yesterday to say a swarm of bees was outside. When I went out there was no sign of bees anywhere ...

The thing I'm wondering about is whether your neighbour would actually know what a real swarm of honeybees looked like.
Might have been Tree Bumblebees, or just a collection of bees working hard on a particular bush or tree.

Unless people talk about the air having been full of flying insects, or speak of a 'dirty ball' hanging somewhere, I start from the position that it probably isn't an actual swarm that they want me to come and deal with!