My hive swarmed on Wednesday whilst I was away from home and I returned home late on Thursday evening. By the time I returned home they had moved from their temporary position and it seems that I have lucked out in having any hope of finding them.
I do wonder how far they may have gone before setting up house. Does anyone have any experience with this? I live in the suburbs of Brisbane.
Mick
swarm or abscond? i.e. is there still a 50% population and unhatched queen cells or did the whole colony bolt?
Although I have yet to open the hive there are plenty of guard bees at the entrance and some coming through the top cover over 3 1/2 depth supers so it is my guess that it is a swarm that may have taken half the colony. I will be checking the hive tomorrow to see what is left for me.
Will come back with that info
Mick
SlickMick,
I would not open that hive right now unless you can hear several queens piping.
If you do open it, do not tilt the frames that have queen cells on them. Up until the last 2 days before they hatch, their ovaries are very sensitive to being tossed around. If you can hear them piping then tilting is not a problem. Once they are piping, they are ready to hatch. The bees are just keeping them locked in.
Your new queen will need time to get strong enough for her maiden flight, get mated and start laying. You do not want to bee bothering them until she has established brood or the bees may kill her because you are bothering them and they blame it on the queen.
Your swarm may have found a new site in your neighbors yard or it may bee 5 miles away.
Jim
G'day Jim,
My 72-year-old ears aint as good as they were in there is no way I would hear queens piping, even with my hearing aids turned up full.
I did look at all the frames in the brood box but I couldn't tell you if I tilted the frames the Queen sells. I can only hope that I didn't.
I guess I'll have to wait till spring to do a split and make a new colony.
Mick