Three weeks ago, I cut three frames of eggs, brood and bees out of my best hive and decided to let them raise a queen.
This morning, I look out my window and there is a pile of bees (maybe the size of a baseball) on the pallet immediately next to the nuc (maybe not 6 inches from the entrance of the nuc). Since I don't know what they are doing, I suit up and go take a look. There were plenty of bees still in the nuc. When I looked closely at the pallet - there is a queen running around in the mass of bees. I took my eye off of her for a minute - and I couldn't find her again.
After about 10 minutes, the clump of bees dispersed and, I assume, went back into the nuc.
Does anyone know what was going on? There weren't any eggs in the nuc yet. Was this leaving for a mating flight, returning from a mating flight?
Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Mike
I'd bet mating flight. Not sure though.