What a strange year!

Newbeeneil · Jul 14, 2021

At the start of July I thought I had this season sussed. Most of my hives had either swarmed or AS or showed no intention of swarming.
I have several that are still queenless after several attempts but I will unite those with several swarms that have come out of quarantine and assessment.
Then I went on holiday, only for 7 days, everything was sorted before I went, I didn't worry while I was away because I KNEW i had these bees sorted.
Yesterday I inspected two apiaries, one just as I left it, the other had gone crazy, queens missing ( all clipped thankfully), cells everywhere the carnage took 3 hours to sort and I had expected to be back home within an hour!
Today, more of the same thing. First apiary which had 5 small nucs 6 weeks ago now has one dead hive ( I suspect nosema as the bees have been dying for a few weeks and the frames are well splattered) and 4 monsters who are all preparing to swarm. One swarmed as I was inspecting into the cherry tree above my head. (Strange as it was bursting with bees but when I collected the prime swarm it only covered 2 frames - so much for Seeley's 70%)
I arrived at the next apiary to find a brood box and 3 (now empty) supers lying on the ground, the result of a deer with an itch I would think. The supers had been almost full but from the look of the ground beneath the hive it had been toppled for several days in pouring rain so all the other hives (and ants) had been helping themselves.
I reassembled the hive and restricted the entrance to reduce the robbing of the few stores left and took off the empty supers.
One of the other hives had swarm cells so I removed the queen and donated a cell to toppled one as I couldn't find the queen or any sign of eggs.
Roll on tomorrow and extra work in hot sun!,,,,,,,

Markthebuilder · Aug 10, 2021

Hope you have all sorted now, but you have reignited my angst over going on holiday

Erichalfbee · Aug 10, 2021

Newbeeneil said:
At the start of July I thought I had this season sussed. Most of my hives had either swarmed or AS or showed no intention of swarming.
I have several that are still queenless after several attempts but I will unite those with several swarms that have come out of quarantine and assessment.
Then I went on holiday, only for 7 days, everything was sorted before I went, I didn't worry while I was away because I KNEW i had these bees sorted.
Yesterday I inspected two apiaries, one just as I left it, the other had gone crazy, queens missing ( all clipped thankfully), cells everywhere the carnage took 3 hours to sort and I had expected to be back home within an hour!
Today, more of the same thing. First apiary which had 5 small nucs 6 weeks ago now has one dead hive ( I suspect nosema as the bees have been dying for a few weeks and the frames are well splattered) and 4 monsters who are all preparing to swarm. One swarmed as I was inspecting into the cherry tree above my head. (Strange as it was bursting with bees but when I collected the prime swarm it only covered 2 frames - so much for Seeley's 70%)
I arrived at the next apiary to find a brood box and 3 (now empty) supers lying on the ground, the result of a deer with an itch I would think. The supers had been almost full but from the look of the ground beneath the hive it had been toppled for several days in pouring rain so all the other hives (and ants) had been helping themselves.
I reassembled the hive and restricted the entrance to reduce the robbing of the few stores left and took off the empty supers.
One of the other hives had swarm cells so I removed the queen and donated a cell to toppled one as I couldn't find the queen or any sign of eggs.
Roll on tomorrow and extra work in hot sun!,,,,,,,

Struth!
I bet you were mad. Still are i guess
Commiserations… all I can offer

Wilco · Aug 10, 2021

Newbeeneil said:
At the start of July I thought I had this season sussed. Most of my hives had either swarmed or AS or showed no intention of swarming.
I have several that are still queenless after several attempts but I will unite those with several swarms that have come out of quarantine and assessment.
Then I went on holiday, only for 7 days, everything was sorted before I went, I didn't worry while I was away because I KNEW i had these bees sorted.
Yesterday I inspected two apiaries, one just as I left it, the other had gone crazy, queens missing ( all clipped thankfully), cells everywhere the carnage took 3 hours to sort and I had expected to be back home within an hour!
Today, more of the same thing. First apiary which had 5 small nucs 6 weeks ago now has one dead hive ( I suspect nosema as the bees have been dying for a few weeks and the frames are well splattered) and 4 monsters who are all preparing to swarm. One swarmed as I was inspecting into the cherry tree above my head. (Strange as it was bursting with bees but when I collected the prime swarm it only covered 2 frames - so much for Seeley's 70%)
I arrived at the next apiary to find a brood box and 3 (now empty) supers lying on the ground, the result of a deer with an itch I would think. The supers had been almost full but from the look of the ground beneath the hive it had been toppled for several days in pouring rain so all the other hives (and ants) had been helping themselves.
I reassembled the hive and restricted the entrance to reduce the robbing of the few stores left and took off the empty supers.
One of the other hives had swarm cells so I removed the queen and donated a cell to toppled one as I couldn't find the queen or any sign of eggs.
Roll on tomorrow and extra work in hot sun!,,,,,,,

Just back from holiday and now nervous... Fortunately I did a bit of extracting before I went though so hopefully most of them have space. Not sure how well my Jazz will cope with reaching hives on freshly wet ground through!

The site near me OK?

bobba · Aug 10, 2021

Great post btw, a very interesting and enjoyable little read.

Regarding Seeley's 70% - one of my hives swarmed in the spring, the swarm landed on a net screen near my hives. (about 1m from the hive entrance)

I watched it for a few h, and bees seemed to be coming and going from the hive to the swarm. More so back to the hive. I thought I best collect them in the evening as rain was due, by which time there were barley 2 cups of bees and a Q left on the netting. I think the bees got confused by the netting as the swarm was trying to form on both sides and was very close to the hive.

I popped them a nuc, but they had gone by the next morning, I never saw the Q again.

Then one of my hives that swarmed last year almost did a full on evacuation, If it was not so hot I do not think there would have even been enough bees to keep the remaining brood warm. Once I stuffed them in a new box it looked more like a 95%-5% split.

So I dont think Seeley's 70% is an exact rule that bees follow every time, and there will always be exceptions. But is probably about right in most instances.

Erichalfbee · Aug 10, 2021

bobba said:
So I dont think Seeley's 70% is an exact rule that bees follow every time, and there will always be exceptions. But is probably about right in most instances.

Maybe it’s an average