swarm with no queen?

[wildbeekeeper]

hi all! Is it possible to have a swarm with no queen?  I captured one the  other day and hived it.....after a day ( i had left the box i caught them in right in front of the hive) half the bees were in the hive the other half were in the box... I couldnt fine a queen in either...I dumped the other bees into the hive last evening so I will check today to see whats happenning.  Its not possible that i missed catching the queen because I cut the whole branch and shook it clean into the box.

If theres not a queen what should i do?!  Combime them with another hive? order a queen (and from where?!)?  THanks for the help!  Im nervous but excited about whats going on with this hived swarm!

Steve

[Scadsobees]

First I'd give them a week or two to see what they do.  Swarm queens can be virgins and hard to find.  They also take a week or more before they lay eggs

After a week or two and you know there is no queen then:

If you want to keep them as a new hive but not spend money or take too much from another hive, then you can give them a frame of eggs from another hive.  Then they'll raise their own.

But you can also combine them with another hive, you have a stronger hive.

Or order a queen if you don't mind spending $25 bucks.

[JP]

Yes, its possible to find a swarm cluster without a queen, but usually one of these things has ocurred, maybe even another I'm leaving out.

Huge swarm moves on with queen, small swarm cluster of disoriented, queenless bees left behind.

Bees were sprayed by water house or chemicals and queen was killed.

I had two I posted about in the last couple of months on here, one was attached to the underside frame of a work trailer suspended over water.

Apparently, and according to the workers, the cluster was huge but fell down into the water. I believe the queen drowned or something because I tried everything to locate a queen but never did find one and the bees were trying to orient on several things like a queen catcher I set on my truck siderail, my sideview mirror, my box with lemongrass and even my windshield! They were hopelessly queenless.


...JP

[wildbeekeeper]

ok update:

this morning there was a baseball sized cluster still in my swarm box... no queen I looked.......and when I opened up the hive, there was the majority of bees clustered but i couldnt locate the queen... they were starting to make comb on the foundation I have in there....

an item I should note is that the landowner where I got these said she saw "a lot" more when they were swarming (flying around)....Thats hard to jusdge because those swarms look big flying and then to see them clustered is hard to judge...anyway when I got this swarm, they already had begun to make comb in  theh tree they were in (the comb was the size of a playing card)

So my question is this.....Since I have 3 new hives...brand new swarms...I have no brood or honey to put or switch into these hives... they all have foundation and they are all getting fed sugar syrup/water......

Is it best to let this swarm do its own thing? 

Will they produce a queen or should I buy one?

should I try to locate a beekeeper near me that would sell or give me a frame or two of brood? 

What if there is a queen and i just never see it but add a queen?

I know... lots of questions, but Im lost :)


Thanks for the help!

[Ross]

Leave it alone for at least two weeks, then check for brood.  You probably have a virgin that needs to mate.  It could even be 3 weeks before you see brood. 

[sean]

As scadsobees said give them a few days to see what happens as you may have virgin queens. At the same time, it wouldnt hurt to get some eggs/brood is possible. I personally would go for purchased queens. 1) you would be getting queens that should start laying almost immediately, 2) theoretically less chance of disease/pest making its way into your hives "disclaimer" This is in no way intended to be an indictment or to be construed as an attack on the quality/ integrity of local beekeeps.