Hive swarmed after I split

Matt J · March 26, 2017, 10:44:12 AM

So 14 days ago, I split one of my hives, taking the old queen, some brood frames and bees, and a honey and pollen frame and put them in a nuc. I did this because there were capped queen cells in the parent hive. My goal was to swarm for them. No problem so far.

I had not been back into the main colony since then, so that I would not disturb their process of making a new queen and her getting mated. Well, yesterday they swarmed. They landed about 30 feet from the hive 20 feet up a tree, volley ball size swarm. I took a bucket on a telescoping pole and bumped the swarm, capturing about 3 lbs of bees. I dumped them into a new hive body and noticed fanning immediately on the front porch. So far, so good.

Here's where it gets interesting. I went back to the cluster and bumped them again, but this time I wasn't so successful, with most of them landing on the ground or going airborne. At this point all I could do was wait. A few minutes later, I noticed a ton of bees fanning at the main colony. Now I had bees fanning at 2 locations. I let it settle for a bit and when all was calm again, I went into the new box and there was a queen. So I had got her on the first bump. I guess on the second bump, i made them confused/angry and the remainder of the cluster went back home.

So heres my question. Do you think I have a queen in the main colony? Should I continue to wait to see whats going on it there, or just go in looking for a queen? My guess is theres capped queens in there right now, and they swarmed as soon as that happened, but I'm wondering if there could be a hatched queen.

Jim134 · March 26, 2017, 12:25:49 PM

You do realize some swans have more than one Queen.

BEE HAPPY Jim 134

Matt J · March 26, 2017, 12:31:09 PM

Quote from: Jim 134 on March 26, 2017, 12:25:49 PM
You do realize some swans have more than one Queen.

BEE HAPPY Jim 134

Well, I guess if this one had 2 queens and one went to each hive, then good deal.

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gww · March 26, 2017, 01:18:41 PM

matt

QuoteWell, I guess if this one had 2 queens and one went to each hive, then good deal.

Untill the ones that went back to the hive leave again. If they left once, it might not be over yet. I am new enough that more experiance comments should be made other then just mine.
gww

Matt J · March 26, 2017, 04:59:08 PM

Quote from: gww on March 26, 2017, 01:18:41 PM
matt
QuoteWell, I guess if this one had 2 queens and one went to each hive, then good deal.
Untill the ones that went back to the hive leave again. If they left once, it might not be over yet. I am new enough that more experiance comments should be made other then just mine.
gww

That is correct. They'll swarm until they decide not to. I'm gonna run out of boxes.

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Barhopper · March 26, 2017, 05:10:00 PM

I'd wait a little longer before looking in the original hive. I like to give a couple weeks from when I think or know what the hatch date is.

gww · March 26, 2017, 05:30:41 PM

matt

QuoteI'm gonna run out of boxes.

My guess is that that is not the worst problim to have, more bee then box. It is a lot better then going the other way.
Cheers
gww

sc-bee · March 26, 2017, 08:08:05 PM

Just an added comment.... you do realize if you leave more than a couple queen cells in a populous hive they will still swarm... and maybe more than once...

Matt J · March 26, 2017, 08:13:30 PM

Quote from: sc-bee on March 26, 2017, 08:08:05 PM
Just an added comment.... you do realize if you leave more than a couple queen cells in a populous hive they will still swarm... and maybe more than once...

Yup. They will probably swarm again based on what I saw today.

BeeMaster2 · March 28, 2017, 01:06:04 PM

If you want to find out if they are going to swarm again, spend some quite time close to the hive. If there are more than one queen left in the hive, the queens will bee piping. I put my ear to every hive last week and found one hive piping. I pulled all of the queens out, marked them and put one back.
Jim