New package swarming!

[gguidester]

Installed 3 ea. 3# packages around May 1.  Yesterday went to the bee yard to find thousands of bees in the  air in a tornado formation above the hives.  Turned out to be a swarm that ended up in a shrub about 25 yards from the hive they swarmed from.  Looked like an easy recapture for a fourth hive.  went to get a hive ready for the capture and upon my return before I could apply any smoke or even get close, the swarm went back to tornado formation and disappeared into a nearby wood lot. I followed but could not locate them in the woods.  No bees in the air, no noise, gone!  All 3 hives had about 50% of the second hive body  built up with comb.  The hive that swarmed did have one frame with some capped bood and some larvae in the top body.  Top hive bodies were put on about 2 weeks ago.  Other 2 hives are at about the same stage of comb building in the top hive body.  Why did they swarm?  I did not look in the bottom body because of all the goings on already. My understanding is that the swarm would not have happened if the process of new queen was not under way. Is that correct?  What can I expect for this hive?  Still seems to be lots of bees in the hive.   Please voice your opinions.  I was going over to completley remove the entrance reducers which had moved to the 4 inch or  so  width about 3 weeks ago.  Thanks in advance for all your help.

[indypartridge]

Why did they swarm?

Because that's what bees do. It would be nice if someone could point out a particular reason, but the truth is, you can do everything "by the book" and you'll still get an occasional swarm.

I did not look in the bottom body because of all the goings on already.

You can check for swarm cells by just tipping up the brood boxes and looking at the bottom of frames.

My understanding is that the swarm would not have happened if the process of new queen was not under way. Is that correct?

Typically, the swarm leaves right before the virgin queen emerges.

What can I expect for this hive?

With good luck, the virgin queen will mate successfully and will be laying in about 2 weeks, give or take a few days. With bad luck, the colony will swarm 2 or 3 more times and end up queenless (happened to my best colony this spring).

[Scadsobees]

What indy said, but I'd add that I'd be surprised for a small hive to swarm more than once, most likely because they didn't start on that second box and considered themselves crowded.

Yeah, 2-3 weeks to start seeing brood.  It will set back your package a ways, but I think that there is still plenty of summer for them to build back up.  You may want to continue feeding that package in a dearth if they still have more frames to draw out.

Rick

[slacker361]

is this why they clip the wings of the queen to keep them from swarming?

[tandemrx]

find it fascinating that a new package would swarm so quickly (7 weeks max since being installed - right?).

Maybe you should put a swarm trap by that bush - same one you had a swarm in last year right?

Anyone else have a new package swarm this soon from being installed?