Hello
Our hive swarmed on Friday and we finally captured them on Saturday after a few unsuccessful tries. When the swarm would settle I noticed that they would form one large mass and one small mass, We captured the large mass and most of the small mass and put them in the hive that I just built.
Sunday the bees were in the hive and seemed fine but the small mas had reformed in the same place that it was..Does this mean that there were 2 queens? Also, could a swarm from our neighbors hive joined in?..
Today we captured the small mass and put them in another hive..I don't know if they will stay or not..Is this common?
It could be you had another queen or that the swarm was just big and had a large and small cluster, side by side.
It is normal for a small amount to cluster back where the main swarm cluster was, its about scent.
What I would do is shake the small cluster in a cardboard box and carefully examine it to decipher whether you have a second queen or not.
...JP
I had one beekeeper report that a swarm he caught had seven queens in it.
Quote from: Gware on May 26, 2008, 06:01:56 PM
I had one beekeeper report that a swarm he caught had seven queens in it.
The record I believe is 22.
...JP