Confuseded....

LocustHoney · April 10, 2008, 04:24:25 PM

Need some explaining on what has happened of the past couple of days.

1) Bought two packages of bees for my sons birthday present. Intsalled hours before a three day rain set in.

2) My wife heard a guy say that his package of bees had left when he put them in. Wasn't worried but still was in the back of my mind.

3) The next day my wife calls at work and tells me that a herd of bees was on the outside of one of my older, bigger hives. My thinking was that one of the new package of bees did in fact head for the hills. The rain was off and on at this point. Sometimes heavy...sometimes misting. The bees eventually disaapear before I get home. I assumed the went back in the hive.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/LocustHoney/100_1630.jpg
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/LocustHoney/100_1631.jpg

4) The next day the sun came out and was NICE. My wife calls me as I am leaving work and says there is a swarm!!!! She is banging the pan and I step on the gas.

5) I make it home and hive the swarm that went to the same hedge row the swarm I had last year went. Only 2 feet higher. VERY exciting as was last year. The boys helped even more and they are hooked even more. Ecspecially the younger one!!

6) Went into the swarm hive (the one that swarmed) today to see if the queen was laying yet (assuming the old queen left with the swarm) and NO eggs!!! Now I need help figuring out what happened. Is the old queen still in the old hive?? Did two virgins take over??? I really don't want to go in them unless I have to. our honey flow has begun it's early stages and I don't want to disturb the ladies any more than I have to. Please help!!!

pdmattox · April 10, 2008, 07:22:29 PM

the new queen may not have mated yet or is delayed in laying. If you have a frame of open brood and eggs you could put that in the hive and give it a week then check again.

LocustHoney · April 10, 2008, 09:07:48 PM

What happens if the swarm returns to the hive as did this one???? So this means that the old queen is dead or in the old hive???

Jerrymac · April 10, 2008, 10:10:51 PM

From your pictures. Isn't it a bit strange that the bees are scattered out like that if it is a swarm?

talkingamoeba · April 10, 2008, 11:39:26 PM

I don't have much experience, but all of my experience is with swarms. The only time I have seen that was with the swarm I hived that the land owner had sprayed with Blackflag before calling me, they went all over the outside of the hive the next day, turns out the queen was still on the ground in his lawn with a small group of bees. She was nearly dead, then died. The hive ended up with a laying worker. I would check for a queen but that's just my idea from having seen behavior similar to your bees

LocustHoney · April 11, 2008, 07:34:47 AM

Yes Jerrymac, that was odd. The bees were going back into the hive. Once again I am assuming that these were swarm bees. The other hives I mentioned that I started with packages checked out ok. Queens with eggs..etc... Can't quite seem to figure this one out. Would the bees swarm without a queen??? I will post the swarm pics I hived later on.

CBEE · April 11, 2008, 09:09:32 AM

To my knowledge they will not swarm without a queen. There is the possibility that there was a queen and something happened to her during the swarm. With no queen to cluster around then would they be confused and not act like a normal swarm ?? Or maybe even start to go back to the original hive ?

JP · April 11, 2008, 09:54:32 AM

Quote from: CBEE on April 11, 2008, 09:09:32 AM
To my knowledge they will not swarm without a queen. There is the possibility that there was a queen and something happened to her during the swarm. With no queen to cluster around then would they be confused and not act like a normal swarm ?? Or maybe even start to go back to the original hive ?

I watched one of mine swarm out the other day. After a bunch of bees had already left, the queen slipped out, and I caught her. The queen is a puppet on a string, the bees are the ones in charge, and they collectively make the decisions in the hive. Swarming is the same thing. They thin her down or them down, and swarm out. If the queen or queens don't follow because they are injured or old or whatever, the swarm will come back, cause they are nothing without a queen.

...JP

Ross · April 11, 2008, 11:24:59 AM

Sounds pretty simple to me. The old hive swarmed after the second try. You hived them. Swarms usually occur just as or slightly before the new queen cells are capped. You likely have a virgin in the old hive and will have eggs in 10 days or so if she successfully mates. For insurance, you can feed them a frame of eggs a week. If they start queen cells, she likely didn't make it.

LocustHoney · April 11, 2008, 12:52:05 PM

Ross, That is what I believe EXCEPT for the fact that I lack eggs in the new hive!!! This should be the old queen...right??? Is it possible for two new virgin queens??? i guess I will have to go into the old hive to find out. :-\

Ross · April 11, 2008, 04:28:34 PM

It could be a secondary swarm that left with a virgin. That happens. Give it a few days or give them some eggs and see if they build cells.

JMN · April 14, 2008, 10:51:01 PM

Those bees probably are Russians and when they see the Italian flag (or is it Irish?) they get all confused.

I am sorry, the devil made me do it.