Something strange happened, at least it was strange to me.

lakeman · June 11, 2010, 07:39:31 PM

I have my bees on another property, where I also have a garden, and everytime I am in the vicinity, I just drive by my bee hives, and give them the onceover, to make sure I have bees coming and going from all of the hives. I went by for a look, and there was two rivers of bees flowing out of the one hive, one solid stream, the full width of the bottom board streaming out to the edge, and I could not see if they were dropping to the ground, or flying off, and a second stream of bees flowing out, and up the front of the hive, and the air was full of bees flying all around the area, but I could not see a gathering of them anywhere, as what I would consider a swarm. I did not have my bee suit, veil, and smoker along so I left, and went to working my garden. About an hour later I went back to recheck the hives, and everything had returned to normal, although trffic in and out of the hive was very light. Not having my suit, or jacket & veil and smoker along, I could not check the hive real close, but I did take off the top, and inner cover, and there were bees working on the frames in the top super. I had checked this hive last week, and it was doing well, the queen was working the lower deep, with a medium on top with plenty of room, and an excluder with bees working the frames on top. Is this a normal occurance?

JP · June 11, 2010, 08:16:28 PM

Not real clear what happened by your description but it very likely could have been orientating flights.

...JP

lakeman · June 11, 2010, 08:57:48 PM

I mean they were pouring out of th hive in two solid masses of moving bees like a river, or carpet of bees, one stream going across the bottom board, and one stream going up the front of the hive, solid bees on the move, you could not see the bottom board, or the front of the hive, all that could be seen was a solid mass of bees moving fast across the bottom board, and up the front of the hive, looked like thousands and thousands of them..

luvin honey · June 11, 2010, 09:19:48 PM

That does sound strange! It almost sounds like they were trying to escape something.

iddee · June 11, 2010, 09:25:05 PM

>>>>I did not have my bee suit, veil, and smoker along so I left, and went to working my garden.<<<<

So you couldn't watch from 100 feet away and see where the swarm went to.....

>>>>About an hour later I went back to recheck the hives, and everything had returned to normal, although trffic in and out of the hive was very light. Not having my suit, or jacket & veil and smoker along, I could not check the hive real close, but I did take off the top, and inner cover,<<<<

But you could open the hive after the swarm left, with no smoke or protection.

I'm sorry, but I just don't understand that.

hardwood · June 11, 2010, 09:27:11 PM

Sure sounds like a swarm to me but difficult to tell without seeing. If I got it right you have one deep for a brood chamber and then an excluder then a super? Have you checked the deep recently? Bees often don't like to cross the excluder (that's why I never use them as such) and will over-build below. I'd check that brood box first...that'll tell you lots.

Scott

lakeman · June 11, 2010, 10:42:45 PM

Quote from: luvin honey on June 11, 2010, 09:19:48 PM
That does sound strange! It almost sounds like they were trying to escape something.

That is exactly the thought that I had as I watched, it's as if they are trying to get away from something.

lakeman · June 11, 2010, 10:53:05 PM

Quote from: iddee on June 11, 2010, 09:25:05 PM
>>>>I did not have my bee suit, veil, and smoker along so I left, and went to working my garden.<<<<

So you couldn't watch from 100 feet away and see where the swarm went to.....

>>>>About an hour later I went back to recheck the hives, and everything had returned to normal, although trffic in and out of the hive was very light. Not having my suit, or jacket & veil and smoker along, I could not check the hive real close, but I did take off the top, and inner cover,<<<<

But you could open the hive after the swarm left, with no smoke or protection.

I'm sorry, but I just don't understand that.

For starters, what can you see from 100 feet away, actually I was watching from inside my pick up from about 8 feet away, I did look around (in trees), the area, but I had no reason to think they had swarmed. When I returned, and opened the top, they had settled down, and everything looked normal, and content. I often just open up and take a quick look without any protection or veil, when they are not aroused, especially if I just go by to check them, and do not see much activity, I will take a quick look inside without veil, smoke, and protection, mainly to see if there were a good many of them active in the top of the hive.

lakeman · June 11, 2010, 11:02:20 PM

Quote from: hardwood on June 11, 2010, 09:27:11 PM
Sure sounds like a swarm to me but difficult to tell without seeing. If I got it right you have one deep for a brood chamber and then an excluder then a super? Have you checked the deep recently? Bees often don't like to cross the excluder (that's why I never use them as such) and will over-build below. I'd check that brood box first...that'll tell you lots.

Scott

As I stated in my first posting, I have a deep with a meium on it for the brood chamber, and then an excluder with a super above it, and as I first stated, I had just checked it throughly a week ago, and they were busy working it with plenty of room to lay (I had just split this hive from another this spring) I have never had a problem with them not passing through the excluder. If you start them out by putting a honey filled frame above the excluder, they will pass right on up to it. As I said I did not have my full protection so I did not go down to the brood, but as I said I popped the top, and there was a big crowd of them in the top frames above the excluder.

iddee · June 11, 2010, 11:55:47 PM

When a hive swarms, they exit as you said, then move as a cloud, sometimes 50 feet or more in diameter. If you had set there for 5 minutes you would have seen the cloud as it moved away as a unit, visible from 300 feet or more. Then they will settle somewhere, either on a limb or structure, as a swarm ball, or go directly to their new home. They do not settle until all have exited the hive and they reach their settling location as a unit.

JP · June 12, 2010, 12:54:39 AM

Could be that they wanted to swarm but had to come back because of the excluder keeping her in.

...JP

lakeman · June 12, 2010, 08:08:59 AM

Quote from: JP on June 12, 2010, 12:54:39 AM
Could be that they wanted to swarm but had to come back because of the excluder keeping her in.

...JP

The queen is below the excluder, it would not keep her in. If they swarm, does any stay with the old hive? How many leave? Do the house bees leave?

Robo · June 12, 2010, 08:15:29 AM

Enough bees stay behind that sometimes a casual observer may never even recognize that the hive has swarmed. I would look for eggs, swarm cells (open or closed), and of course your marked queen. That would give you an indication.

JP · June 12, 2010, 08:18:48 AM

Quote from: lakeman on June 12, 2010, 08:08:59 AM
Quote from: JP on June 12, 2010, 12:54:39 AM
Could be that they wanted to swarm but had to come back because of the excluder keeping her in.

...JP

The queen is below the excluder, it would not keep her in. If they swarm, does any stay with the old hive? How many leave? Do the house bees leave?

OK, so you're using a bottom entrance with excluder above the brood box.

Normally, colonies throw off swarms and you have remaining bees and a virgin queen, and they begin again. A mass exodus would be an abscond.

...JP

jgaito · June 12, 2010, 08:27:21 AM

i have one hive that likes to cover the front of the deep and bottom board. they sometimes act like a chorus line. facing down looking at the ground they move forward and backward like the were sweeping the wood. while this is going on there are bees coming and going with no problems getting in or out. just a very crowded entrance. weird. they go back in the hive for the night.