What on Earth is going on here!?

[gwt_uk]

Hello all,

Just been over to my apiary this evening and came across this (see pic). What is going on?

I split this colony by 3 weeks ago and put the old queen in a Nuc. I inspected the colony in the pic on Saturday and all was well. Plenty bees very calm and saw a new queen and marked her.

What have I missed?

 

[jeff33]

Do you happen to know if you had bees inside at the same time? Could be a swarm which just landed there?

 

[gwt_uk]

I didn’t check inside the hive. They are very light in colour and look to be from the same Buckfast colony. My other bees are dark local bees. I took a hand full of the bees and put them on the landing board. They walked up into the hive unimpeded

 

[Finman]

And you decided to come to discuss to forum?

 

[gwt_uk]

And you decided to come to discuss to forum?

Sorry don’t understand

 

[gwt_uk]

And you decided to come to discuss to forum?

meant to say - I put them back in the hive before contacting the forum if that’s what you are questioning?

 

[Finman]

meant to say - I put them back in the hive before contacting the forum if that’s what you are questioning?

Yes that...

 

[gwt_uk]

Yes that...

What do you think? Failed swarm?

 

[Finman]

What do you think? Failed swarm?

Failed swarm goes into hive. That happens always when the queen is clipped.

A queen fly after the swarm, and if the queen cannot fy, they know that they cannot swarm (reproduce) with such queen.

When I have made an artificial swarm from a colony, where the swarm returned, it will not succeed. Bees feel that they moved their plave with swarming, and bees stay in the new place, and do not go any more to the original site of the hive.

So you must do a shook swarm onto foundations to cut swarming fever. And then leave enough bees to nurse the brood.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I think you need to look inside then come back and tell us what is there

 

[gwt_uk]

I think you need to look inside then come back and tell us what is there

no probs. Will have a look ASAP. I took the roof off and opened up the entrance last night and they walked back in

 

[Erichalfbee]

I bet you were astonished. I'd love to hear what's going on. Maybe your queen was on a mating flight and the bees that get excited about these things just didn't go back inside. Tell us if she is still there.

 

[gwt_uk]

I bet you were astonished. I'd love to hear what's going on. Maybe your queen was on a mating flight and the bees that get excited about these things just didn't go back inside. Tell us if she is still there.

yes I was quite taken aback! Yes my first thought was a mating flight and for some reason they just didn’t make it back in. The queen I marked was large so I thought she would have been mated already. Perhaps I shouldn’t have marked her.

They were very calm and were not moving much. I scooped them onto the crown board and they all walked back down into the supers easily. I couldn’t see the queen amongst them. I have seen a few clips on YouTube that shows similar behaviour when there are humid conditions but I think that is unlikely in Scotland in May! Will try and get back over this evening.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Plenty bees very calm and saw a new queen and marked her

The bees seem very consistent in colour. What was the origin of the old queen?

 

[gwt_uk]

The bees seem very consistent in colour. What was the origin of the old queen?

Buckfast queen purchased last year from Payne’s. Wonderful temperament - could inspect them without suit/gloves. The new queen was very big and bright.

 

[gwt_uk]

I bet you were astonished. I'd love to hear what's going on. Maybe your queen was on a mating flight and the bees that get excited about these things just didn't go back inside. Tell us if she is still there.

Update....had a look inside the hive tonight. The new queen I marked was present, found her on the dummy board- the bees seem fairly happy with her. No eggs or larvae though.

The bees were not aggressive at all but were very loud and doing a lot of fanning. I think you may be right about the mating flight. She has been out, returned and landed on the top section and for some reason the other bees have stayed put.

Will now leave them for two weeks and hopefully she will start laying.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Excellent. A happy ending.

 

[gwt_uk]

Excellent. A happy ending.

i am starting to have second thoughts about whether this was a swarm and I have gone and dumped it into another colony! When I took the roof off and scooped that bees onto the crown board they went back in but were doing a lot of fanning. I peeked under the roof again recently and the crown board still had a lot of bees and many were fanning.

The hive has a QE and two supers so if this was a swarm the queen may be in the supers. What would happen in this scenario? Would the colonies fight it out? I saw no evidence of fighting and the handful of bees I put in the landing board went into the hive unimpeded!

 

[Erichalfbee]

You’ve lost me now. You’ve found the queen in the brood box.
How would another get into the supers
And I thought you dumped the bees into the hive
Where have the bees on top of the crownboard come from?

 

[gwt_uk]

You’ve lost me now. You’ve found the queen in the brood box.
How would another get into the supers
And I thought you dumped the bees into the hive
Where have the bees on top of the crownboard come from?

Apologies. I scooped all the bees from the front of the hive onto the crown board which is on top of 2 supers and a QE. So if this was a swarm with another queen I may have put the swarm queen into the supers.