I went to check my hives today and found a queen in front of the hive in a ball of bees.The workers were all around the queen some were dead .The queen was just trying to move around.I wonder what is going on with this hive.It is about 6 feet high and alot of bees maybe 50,000 or so.
kirko
in my one limited experience of this, I determined the queen had a broken wing and she was being superceded. She was surrounded by nurse bees which eventually died w/ her. Look inside hive and see if you have any empty queen cells. Hope it all works out.
Kirk, the queen is being "balled". That is the terminology when the bees want to destroy their queen. They surround her, basically they suffocate her and she dies. You are having a supercedure occurring. Plain and simple. For some reason they don't like this poor gal, and they are being downright mean to her. Sad thing. Have a wonderful, great day, regardless, Cindi
I agree, and I would put her in a vial in alcohol and use her to entice swarms.
....JP
Quote from: JP on February 17, 2008, 10:18:36 AM
I agree, and I would put her in a vial in alcohol and use her to entice swarms.
....JP
JP.......
Why would you want to entice swarms ???? I thought swarming was a bad thing.
Mike
QuoteWhy would you want to entice swarms ? I thought swarming was a bad thing.
Use it in swarm traps. It's a home made swarm lure.
Quote from: bassman1977 on February 17, 2008, 11:56:56 AM
QuoteWhy would you want to entice swarms ? I thought swarming was a bad thing.
Use it in swarm traps. It's a home made swarm lure.
Swarms in swarm traps, indeed a good thing. ;)
....JP
Quote from: mgates61 on February 17, 2008, 11:30:18 AM
Quote from: JP on February 17, 2008, 10:18:36 AM
I agree, and I would put her in a vial in alcohol and use her to entice swarms.
....JP
JP.......
Why would you want to entice swarms ???? I thought swarming was a bad thing.
Mike
You didn't do your reading assignment did you? The queen alcohol concoction goes into swarm traps to "entice" swarms to move in. NOT to entice hives to swarm.
I personally put out swarm traps to catch swarms not to intice them to swarm.I already had a phermone capsule inside the swarm trap before I put the queen in
kirko
Perhaps I wasn't clear, let me clarify. let me start over. Take the queen and place her in a vial with alcohol. When swarming season starts you can add some lemongrass oil, a few drops to the queen/alcohol mix and place the mixture inside of a swarm trap. When a swarm is in the area, scouts will find this set up appeasing and more than likely you will attract and house the swarm. Sorry for any confusion. Now go catch a swarm, that's an order!
....JP
Quote from: Kirk-o link=topic=es#msg92698 date=1203025255
I went to check my hives today and found a queen in front of the hive in a ball of bees.The workers were all around the queen some were dead .The queen was just trying to move around.I wonder what is going on with this hive.It is about 6 feet high and alot of bees maybe 50,000 or so.
kirko
Some times the bees try to decide what they want the queen to do -like swarm or even mate-it is not the queen that decides-somtimes the queen wont have any part of what the bees want -and the balling is the bees way of forcing here into submission -somtimes-there is injury to the queen -somtimes death -But the interesting thing would be why - where they trying to swarm -was that a virginqueen that they had hopes of supperceding the old queen with -these are the qustions i have and i belive the only way to find out is to go through the hive :)-I am curiouse as to what you did with the queen -RDY-B
Mike, to try and make things even a little bit more clear. It is common for humans who have an apiary to set up swarm traps in the vicinity. When the hive is getting ready to swarm, there are scout bees that (sometimes they swarm and then the scout bees go out in search of a new home) go out and search for an appropriate home. There can be many scout bees that go out and they all can chose a different home, they basically figure it out between themselves which is the most appropriate. If a beekeeper has a home ready for them, and they like this home, that is what they will chose. The first stopping point for a swarm is usually in a reasonable proximity to the original colony. The swarm may move again to another "resting" spot" before they move into a new place. Bees like to move into a home that has already been used by bees, has the queen pheromone scent still present, comb that has been used before and so on, everything that makes for a nice comfy move-in. That is why beekeepers like to "lure" the swarm there, using swarm lure pheromones, like the dead queens that some humans collect. This is a good way to be able to catch the swarms that may have issued from one's apiary. It is a good thing.
And yes, we all need to prevent swarms, there are many ways to prevent swarming and that is one of the biggest bugaboos of the beekeeper, to keep the hives strong, yet not so strong that they have to search for a new home because they are busting out of the box......it is a big job. Have a great, wonderful and awesome day, love our lives we live. Cindi
Well guys that hive is 6feet tall right now.I have been waiting for the weather to be warm enough to take the honey off so I can go throught the Hive.The Queen was small a Virgin I'm sure.I asked Michael Bush what he thought.He said he had a hive which had a queen in it that was being Balled and another queen that wasn't two queen.He said that maybe there were two queens emerged the same time so the bees got rid of one.
It is cool here a gain and rain for this week so I can't do til probably Sunday
I'll keep you posted.
kirko