Found an odd little swarm twenty feet from my hives today

[Bill W.]

I can't figure out where they came from.  No queen and only a few hundred lonely bees.  None of my hives have swarmed recently.  Strange.

More pics.

[Kathyp]

might have been a swarm with a virgin queen.  they are very hard to spot. could have been some leftovers from a bigger swarm. combining is probably the only way to go.

[TwT]

might have been a swarm with a virgin queen.  they are very hard to spot. could have been some leftovers from a bigger swarm. combining is probably the only way to go.

thats what I am thinking, a cast swarm with a virgin queen...

[contactme_11]

I'd get them a queen and let them do there own thing. They might do okay.

[Kathyp]

I'd get them a queen and let them do there own thing. They might do okay.

probably not.  we are 6 to 8 weeks from first frost, depending on elevation.  not enough time to build up.  not enough time to draw comb. 

[Bill W.]

All together, these bees would only cover about a quarter of a frame.  I suppose I might put them in a nuc if I had a spare one, but I don't.  I'm planning to just add them to one of my existing hives.

[JP]

I've gotten swarm calls like this before, a small number, no queen, these could very well be the stragglers from a larger swarm that left these behind, combining is the way to go for something like this, they're too small to even nuc.


...JP

[SgtMaj]

Probably not.  we are 6 to 8 weeks from first frost, depending on elevation.

Yeesh, you have a short year up there.

[contactme_11]

Probably not.  we are 6 to 8 weeks from first frost, depending on elevation.

Yeesh, you have a short year up there.

That's what I was thinking. We've got probably 14-16 weeks before we'll get a good frost here.

[millermann1972]

i had the same thing happen last week twice. the first one i could not find the queen so i put them in a nuc to move them to a different yard and dumped the in front of a weak hive. the next day there was another swarm on the same tree but a little bigger. as i was getting ready to put them in the nuc i heard a loud buzzing sound , looked up they where moving to another tree a few yards down. i got them in a nuc with drawn comb and they have a  queen laying like crazy. maybe the bees where waiting on the queen to leave .

[SgtMaj]

That's what I was thinking. We've got probably 14-16 weeks before we'll get a good frost here.

Yeah, and we've got about 16-20 or so.

[tlynn]

That's what I was thinking. We've got probably 14-16 weeks before we'll get a good frost here.

Yeah, and we've got about 16-20 or so.

We had our first frost in 10 years last year!  Knocked all the leaves off my papaya!  8-)