Mystery swarm

[phill]

A large swarm appeared in my yard last Sunday. They settled high up in a tree and-- after scouting my traps, but apparently not liking them-- flew away sometime Monday.

These were not my bees. This was a big swarm; I definitely would have noticed if that many bees were missing. My own hives were calm.

But I've been thinking: A) A swarm usually lights pretty close to the hive it left; correct? B) I've had trouble with robbing of my hives in the past. Putting those things together, I'm suspecting there's a feral hive somewhere close to me. There's some fairly thick woods right on the edge of my property-- and right near where this swarm settled. What do you think the odds are that if I tramped around in those woods, I'd find the hive that threw that swarm?

[tefer2]

I'd hang a swarm trap or two on the edge of the woods for starters.
If they were grouping within a hundred feet of your hives, they may be your bees Phil!

[BlueBee]

I don't know what the odds are in the woods, but when a hive swarms, they usually land in a tree close to the mother hives as a first resting place.  They won't necessarily stay there for too long though before moving to a 2nd place to re-cluster.  The bigger swarms seem a lot more restless than the typical soccer ball sized swarms.  How quickly them decide to move might also depend upon how exposed to the elements they are in the first landing place: sun, wind....

[phill]

It would make sense to think the swarm was from my own hive. But:
   - I'd just checked those hives the day before the swarm, and I peeked again afterwards, just to make sure. I saw no change in population. Everything looked normal.
   - To get from my apiary to that tree, the swarm would have had to go past the open window of the room where I was sitting. It would have been noisy; I would have noticed. Instead my wife called when the swarm appeared in front of the tree.

[bud1]

phil swarms definately like to land close to other hives have had many land on the bottom of hives on my wagons an near  by  tree limb  gift from nature; high put a bucket on a pole and if higher  shoot the branch off

[MsCarol]

Phil,

I vote the extra swarm boxes to start.

Then on a warm sunny quiet afternoon about the same time orientation flights are happening at your own hives, take a stroll through that wooded area with the ears and eyes open. You might just be able to locate the parent colony.

If your eyes are better then mine, you could try bee-lining.

Now if that large swarm was the wild hive absconding because their original home was damaged (hollow or limb split off in storm) all bets off on finding the point of origination.