What behaviour is this?

[OzBuzz]

Ok, so here's a long story which will probably get a simple answer... my apologies

I did a cut out on the weekend - smallish hive, docile bees... I placed them in my yard on Saturday, Sunday i go there to find a massive pile of bees on the ground. I identify it's the cutout - i get the box they were in, place it near them and they all walk back in. Monday comes around, i go back to my yard, bees everywhere in the air! a small cluster on the ground and i identify again that it's the cutout! i find the queen in the small cluster on the ground and her wing tips are shredded - that explains why they go about three metres from the hive and hit the ground. This queen is the fattest, biggest queen i have ever seen in my life! and she's incredibly proud too - i know that sounds odd but i've seen some queens who just walk around and other queens who really strut their stuff! she is a strutter! and she's a beautiful dark colour with light orange/yellow bandings on her abdomen segments. Anyway, i pick her up and put her back in the box - all was good and then all of a sudden the bees start flying out! i sat there for a while and they appeared to come back... i'd recently re-queened all of my hives and i found some of the abscondees were going to the other hives which was sending them in to a frenzy - i didnt want them to risk rejection of the new queens i'd put in there so waited till dusk until the majority of the bees were back in the box and i closed the box up - i left it closed all day yesterday (i put some sugar syrup and pollen substitute in there too). Yesterday afternoon i go back to my bee yard and see a small cluster on the ground - closer inspection shows her royal highness strutting her stuff! this time i got a queen cage and put her in it. I've put the queen cage back in the box with her locked in it to it - i'm hoping this will allow the bees to settle down a little and stay where they are. I don't mind if they decide at the end of the day to abscond - i just don't want them to cause rejection of my new queens in hives that they visit.

Anyway, i'd be standing back and all of a sudden i'd notice a flurry of activity at the entrance of a hive - obviously some of the abscondees were visiting that hive looking for their home and the guard bees and other bees in the hive had gone in to defensive mode. I'd smoke that entrance heavily and they would leave and move on to another hive - i kept doing this until it seemed to quieten down a little. I popped the lid on one of the hives that previously had a flurry of activity at the entrance when the abscondees had visited (I was removing an empty queen cage where the queen had been released). They all just started pouring out of the lid. Is this a defensive response to the visiting abscondees before or is it a defensive response to me opening their hive? I'm guessing it's a response to the visiting abscondee bees earlier... What impact would this sort of activity have on queen acceptance? is there any way of stopping this response? is smoking at the entrance in hives that have gone in to a frenzy the right thing to do? have i done the right thing locking the queen in the queen cage inside the box? and will that queen survive even though she has shredded wing tips? what could have caused those shredded wing tips? the flying when she absconded? or is it possible she's an older queen who has swarmed a few times which would have put pressure on her wings? She's definitely not one of the queens that i re-queened with as she is way too big and also i've used carniolan queens and she has some quite heavy yellowy orange banding on her abdomen segments

[Michael Bush]

Sometimes a swarm tries to move into an established hive.

[OzBuzz]

Sometimes a swarm tries to move into an established hive.

Would they do this even though their queen is on the ground with a small cluster around her? could it have been scout bees going to find a hive to try and move in to? I checked back this afternoon and the bees are now returning where i want them to! the queen is still caged inside

[TomP]

Hi OzBee,

Long story with lots of questions.  I look forward to the answers, but rather than answering any of them,  have more questions.  Where I am now bee season is just starting for the year as spring flowers and trees have been blooming for a few weeks.  I am thinking that in Australia, your bee season would be wrapping up for the fall.  Is this correct?  Also just curious why were you requeening?  Were there problems with the hives that are being requeened or was it just a management decision? 

I think Ozbee has asked about 10 questions in his 2 posts and I certainly want to hear what people who know much more about beekeeping than I do have to say to answer those questions.

Thanks.

Tom

[OzBuzz]

Hi OzBee,

Long story with lots of questions.  I look forward to the answers, but rather than answering any of them,  have more questions.  Where I am now bee season is just starting for the year as spring flowers and trees have been blooming for a few weeks.  I am thinking that in Australia, your bee season would be wrapping up for the fall.  Is this correct?  Also just curious why were you requeening?  Were there problems with the hives that are being requeened or was it just a management decision? 

I think Ozbee has asked about 10 questions in his 2 posts and I certainly want to hear what people who know much more about beekeeping than I do have to say to answer those questions.

Thanks.

Tom

G'day Tom, yeah, information overload is something i'm renowned for - sorry everyone. TomP you're correct - we're moving in to the middle of autumn at the moment. I work on the principle that i will be closing my hives up for the winter at the end of april. This allows them to bed their stores in, define their brood nest, and generally get things ready for the colder months. I requeened for several reasons:

1) Some of the hives were incredibly vicious
2) All of the queens were from swarms and i had noticed that their brood pattern was becoming quite patchy and there was great variation in their productivity
3) I want to go in to next season with young queens who will build up quickly as i'm hoping to put my hives on almond pollination
4) I wanted to form a management 'baseline'

I hope the questions that i ask are of use to other beekeepers as well and not simply an annoyance

[iddee]

Oz, did you requeen the hive we are discussing?

[OzBuzz]

The hive that i did the cut out on - i didn't re-queen that one - so it was the queen that came with the cutout and it was her that insisted on absconding it is also the one that has the queen with the shredded wing tips.

All of my other hives were requeened including the one that showed the, what i would assume, is defensive behaviour when i lifted the lid

[Bee Happy]

I wonder if the hive you cut out was getting ready to swarm when you cut it out. - maybe put the ball of bees in a new box and see what happens? - or check for another queen in the cutout?