Does anyone know if a queen will ever swarm out of a hive and then return back to the hive instead of starting a new one?
I'm curious because I had a hive swarm for the second time on Tuesday and then again on Friday. The swarm I caught on Tuesday was installed in to a top bar hive and after checking in on the hive today, I found only a handful of bees clustered (http://backyardapiary.com/2010/05/top-bar-swarm-didnt-make-it/) with only a little bit of comb drawn. I'm not sure if I missed the queen, if she died on transit to the hive or on a mating flight. It's also possible that she was there an decided to abscond with most of the bees, leaving behind those that didn't get the memo. If I didn't catch her, would she go back to the source hive because the swarm cluster was taken away without her? Or would she most likely just fly off with the small number of bees that I didn't catch?
She swarms with the bees, they dictate this move. If she fails to leave with them, they go back for her.
...JP