Can a clipped queen swarm?

[ctbee]

Could I please get some help with a couple questions:

Last week I noticed a large number of bees in the air and a loud buzzing above one of my hives.  I am a second year beekeeper and haven't seen this before.  This was probably my strongest colony.

This past weekend I looked in and found no brood, eggs or queen.  All the cells on the brood frames were empty.  Can a clipped wing queen swarm with the workers?  Was the large cloud of bees over the hive their preparation to swarm?

Thanks,  Terry, Sherman, CT

[Beaches Bee-Haven Apiary]

Yep, sounds like a swarm. There really is no way to keep a queen from leaving. Some people put a queen excluder between the bottom board and brood chamber, but, when the bees swarm, they starve their queen so she's lighter and can fly better. She's also smaller, and will easily slip through and excluder. And than there are those who clip the queen's wings, like you. I've never experienced it, but from talking to other beeks, they say that the queen will just walk right out of the hive and crawl up a nearby stump, tree trunk, or whatever the bees congregate on. I guess the scouts would have to find a new hive location near the ground so she can get in. Anyway... I think the only advantage to clipping a queen's wings is that they'll congregate on a nearby area before swarming to their new home. This way it would be easier for you to capture them.

Maybe that helps some.

-Nathanael 8-)

[ctbee]

What was the large cloud of bees and loud buzzing about?  I thought swarming bees hung beard like from a branch or roof overhang.  Could I have done something to prevent the swarm once I saw the bees acting this way?  Was it already too late?  Maybe it is a good idea to keep a swarm trap in the bee yard.

[Beaches Bee-Haven Apiary]

I have had one of my hives swarm, however I've never seen a swarm. What I say is purely from the books, and talking to other beeks. Maybe someone else out there can speak from experience.

About the loud buzzing. Since it was over your hive that was probably the bees starting to swarm. They'd be pouring out of the hive and flying around the queen, which would probably be on the ground in front of the hive. Than the bees would all leave and go somewhere to lump together. The bees probably stayed near the hive longer than a usual swarm because the queen couldn't fly.

This is what a swarm looks like when they are leaving the hive.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6024598650924341952&q=bee+swarm&total=150&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
After this they will gather on a branch or something. Than when the scouts have found a home, they will leave and go into that.

[Michael Bush]

>Can a clipped queen swarm?

She can try.  She won't succeed.  But can a hive with a clipped queen swarm?  Absolutely.  They will just leave with the first virgin.

>Last week I noticed a large number of bees in the air and a loud buzzing above one of my hives.  I am a second year beekeeper and haven't seen this before.  This was probably my strongest colony.

Of course it's a matter of degree.  On a warm afternoon with an orientation flight going on and foragers coming and going like crazy it can be a lot of bees without there being a swarm.  On the other hand a swarm is an AWFUL lot of bees in the air.

>This past weekend I looked in and found no brood, eggs or queen.  All the cells on the brood frames were empty.

That's pretty typical of a hive that either has swarmed is about to.

[Brian D. Bray]

>>Could I have done something to prevent the swarm once I saw the bees acting this way?

You could try Tanging (aka tinging).  It is a method of using loud noise to make the bees settle.  It simulates a thunderstorm.  I do it by banging the tin top of the telescopic top with my hive tool.  A lot of beekeepers (and experts) refer to it as a myth.  I've used it since I started beekeeping in 1959 and have had about 85% success rate in getting the bees to settle close enough to the apiary so that I could retrieve the swarm.  That's 1 myth that works for me.

[ctbee]

Thank you all for your input and the video.

Update: I bought a new queen which I was going to introduce to this swarmed out hive this weekend.  The hive has been quiet with a very low level of activity since I witnessed the bee cloud.  I guess it's been about 2 or 3 weekends since I looked in to find it apparently without brood or queen.  This weekend I took a peek before adding the new queen and was totally shocked to find the lower deep filled to the max with capped brood.  I didn't see a queen, but as a beginner I am accustomed to looking for a marked queen.  This will be a good opportunity for me to develop the skill of finding an unmarked queen.  Needless to say I used my purchased queen to do a split with another colony.  Am I correct to say that there must have been a virgin queen present even though I couldn't find brood about 3 weeks ago?