Swarm locations

[philinacoma]

Has anyone noticed a pattern in the swarm locations? I'm noticing some 'hot spots' where I get several calls within a couple of streets of each other.

In one case I'm guessing they're from a feral hive.
'We have had bees living in our chimney for a while now, but these ones are in our grapefruit tree.'

Those of you collecting swarms what are your favourites comments/description from the people calling?

[Pete]

Frankston Sth is a real hotspot.  So is Brighton, but i am getting calls from Brighton a lot as my advert said "no fee unless complicated"...have changed it to "fee charged" today.\

Its the established areas with lot of big trees etc

[philinacoma]

I picked one of the Brighton swarms today. Italians. Very good tempermant. I had to wait until nearly full darkness before they had all come home. A good sign. Hard workers!

[AllenF]

When a hive swarms, there are good odds that it will swarm again in a week or two.   And once a swarm lands and leaves it's scent there, there is a good chance that another swarm will land in the same location.

[philinacoma]

When a hive swarms, there are good odds that it will swarm again in a week or two.   And once a swarm lands and leaves it's scent there, there is a good chance that another swarm will land in the same location.

I'm seeing that.

[Pete]

I think 2 of my recent swarms have re swarmed. What can be done to encourage them to stay put?

My neighbours that i am worried about getting agro over the bees have not a small swarm on their fence...i am sure it will move into their roof next!

[AllenF]

Cage the queen.

[OzBuzz]

Move them in to a full sized box with a seperate base and put a Queen Excluder between the super and the base. You also need to assess why they have re-swarmed too! i'd say they have filled the boxes you put them in... I have a swarm that i caught four weeks ago and she has put out 7 Queen Cells - they will be getting put in a bigger box this weekend and split with the Queen cells (if they're capped by now), some brood and stores put in a nuc

[hardwood]

OzBuzz,
It would behoove (been waiting a week to use that word :-D) you to take the queen away for the split and leave the cells in the original hive...a "false swarm".

If you take the cells away for a split the mother hive might swarm anyway and wouldn't be able to raise a new queen.

Scott

[Pete]

2 have swarmed now :( They are in full sized boxes. Some with supers, no excluders. One i tried a newspaper combine on and i think one of the colonies absconded. The other was last night and i havent worked out where it came from yet.

I think a big read on swarm control this weekend. My neighbours wont like heaps of swarms :(

[philinacoma]

I think a big read on swarm control this weekend. My neighbours wont like heaps of swarms :(

:'( I feel for you mate!

[OzBuzz]

OzBuzz,
It would behoove (been waiting a week to use that word :-D) you to take the queen away for the split and leave the cells in the original hive...a "false swarm".

If you take the cells away for a split the mother hive might swarm anyway and wouldn't be able to raise a new queen.

Scott

Yeah spot on, you need to do a simulated swarm

[philinacoma]

darn, biggest hot spot is in front of my place. The lovely wife just called me to tell me they've done it again. At least they're in my front garden this time!

Hey Slicko, what was your swarm count last year?

[westmar]

Phil are they coming out your hives or are they swarms coming in.suppose to early to tell yet?had a old feller tell me once with swarms he allways used replace queen.as you don't no what you are getting with them.good luck mate

[SlickMick]

darn, biggest hot spot is in front of my place. The lovely wife just called me to tell me they've done it again. At least they're in my front garden this time!

Hey Slicko, what was your swarm count last year?

Didn't keep a close count last year but would estimate about 8 in my backyard and 4 from around the burbs before I pulled my name off the board

Mick

[philinacoma]

That's 5 out the front from 2 hives for me.

[L Daxon]

I got kind of lucky this spring.  Two weeks before I hived my first pkg of bees, unbeknown  to me at the time, a neighbor 4 houses away had a swarm in a tree and called an exterminator to get rid of it.  (soooo wished I had known about it.)  But the point is, there's either another beekp fairly close by or a feral colony around (live on a small 56 acre lake in the city) and I can now easily claim that any future swarms that land in neighbors' yards aren't necessarily mine.

I did catch one small swarm in August I am sure was mine as it was hanging just 4 feet from my hive in a Yaupon tree.

Question:  Does the first swarm from a crowded hive always take the reigning queen with it and leave the supersedure queen(s) to take over?  So then an afterswarm would necessarily have a supersedure queen.

[philinacoma]

Question:  Does the first swarm from a crowded hive always take the reigning queen with it and leave the supersedure queen(s) to take over?  So then an afterswarm would necessarily have a supersedure queen.

The only keep I know of besides myself is the neighbour 3 houses down, who I only found out about as I was talking his wife next to one of the swarms last week.

I did get a cluster swarm reports about a km away in one direction, and another 2km in the other. I don't know of any ferals in close proximity to me. I would have got them if I'ld known!

[philinacoma]

That's 5 out the front from 2 hives for me.

Make that 7. 2 more in next door's front yard! 

[Mardak]

The Merri Creek is known for swarms. Used to set lures and harvest a few years ago. Since the regreening of the Merri Creek banks there probably more lchance of swarms nowadays. Not that many k's from Coburg.