I had the same issue today i heard a roaring sound went out and bees were everywhere ,as my first year and with amount of bees i think may of been a swarm ,i did find a queen just off the landing board and placed into a nother hive ,will check the original hive tomorrow and see whats going on ,there was a multi of swarm cells a few days prior so think it would of been early for a mating flight as the queen will normaly leave on mating flight a week after hatched ,if i dont see a queen i giess i will keep two cells and destroy the rest and go from there ,im sure if it was a mating flight she would of contiued after placing her into the other hive
One of my hives did the same thing last week but being new I thought it was normal tons of bees flew out more than I have ever seen they didn’t land and went back to the hive 3 days later I woke to the sky full of bees and luckily they landed on a tree in my yard and I caught them but that was all new to me. Looks like they may have been doing the same thing to me.
Same things happened to me yesterday. However, my hive swarmed 1 week prior. Colony Has several capped queen cells. Hive acted like a swarm and then aborted the swarm activity. Tons of bees in the air. Some bees landed nearby but not enough for a full swarm. Most bees landed back on the front entrance. I could not find a queen in the swarm ball. Kind of like a mini swarm. I thought that this must have been a mating flight.
Whatever it was I think the split since you found queen cells was the best choice. Crazy bees don't read the Bee behavior books. Just chew them up and spit them out front entry
With that behavior and finding capped Queen cells my opinion would be swarm. I am battling the same possibility on a few hives checking them every week but want them to make honey so I do not want to split them. I am considering what you did pull out the Queen and 1 or 2 frames and put in temp Queen strips from Mann Lake and after our nectar flow in a few weeks try and put a Queen back in. The snellgrove method is a possibility but so labor intensive when dealing with several hives. I will tear down all the queen cells to hopefully prevent after swarms. One other thought is add a third brood box and checkerboard the frames, but then they are busy building brood comb in another box to inspect instead of filling honey supers. Good luck!
Yes it is a full time job trying to curb swarms. I didn't split any of these hives last year so they seem to be more swarmy instead of honey producers this yr. I'm not going to worry about them , whatever they do i'll deal with after the flow. I'm sure there will be many combines later this year. I'd like to keep my numbers at 20 or less but with all the swarm cells i've made into mating nucs i'm near 30 now. It's been a roller coaster year weather wise and the flow just doesn't seem to be steady.
There were a few drones but i get a few in every swarm. But the last swarm absconded and left the queen behind in the queen clip. Could have been another queen in the bunch .
H Rob. That clump of bees on the tree was the swarm. If you would have checked I would bet your old queen was on that tree in the middle of that ball. The queen that you found in your hive is probably a virgin queen possibly returning from a mating flight or getting ready for a mating flight
She saw you coming and flew away to the cedar tree Lol. I’d say it was a swarm that chickened out since there’s capped cells in there. Better get to building more stands. 👍👍🐝🐝
Don't know nothing about bees other then what I see you and Daren doing. Good luck on figuring it out buddy and hope you have a great day!
I had the same issue today i heard a roaring sound went out and bees were everywhere ,as my first year and with amount of bees i think may of been a swarm ,i did find a queen just off the landing board and placed into a nother hive ,will check the original hive tomorrow and see whats going on ,there was a multi of swarm cells a few days prior so think it would of been early for a mating flight as the queen will normaly leave on mating flight a week after hatched ,if i dont see a queen i giess i will keep two cells and destroy the rest and go from there ,im sure if it was a mating flight she would of contiued after placing her into the other hive
One of my hives did the same thing last week but being new I thought it was normal tons of bees flew out more than I have ever seen they didn’t land and went back to the hive 3 days later I woke to the sky full of bees and luckily they landed on a tree in my yard and I caught them but that was all new to me. Looks like they may have been doing the same thing to me.
Same things happened to me yesterday. However, my hive swarmed 1 week prior. Colony Has several capped queen cells. Hive acted like a swarm and then aborted the swarm activity. Tons of bees in the air. Some bees landed nearby but not enough for a full swarm. Most bees landed back on the front entrance. I could not find a queen in the swarm ball. Kind of like a mini swarm. I thought that this must have been a mating flight.
See the pics on 628 DR forum.
Whatever it was I think the split since you found queen cells was the best choice. Crazy bees don't read the Bee behavior books. Just chew them up and spit them out front entry
Hopefully you prevented a swarm. I don't know enough about bees to say but your action makes sense.
I think u need to build some stands
With that behavior and finding capped Queen cells my opinion would be swarm. I am battling the same possibility on a few hives checking them every week but want them to make honey so I do not want to split them. I am considering what you did pull out the Queen and 1 or 2 frames and put in temp Queen strips from Mann Lake and after our nectar flow in a few weeks try and put a Queen back in. The snellgrove method is a possibility but so labor intensive when dealing with several hives. I will tear down all the queen cells to hopefully prevent after swarms. One other thought is add a third brood box and checkerboard the frames, but then they are busy building brood comb in another box to inspect instead of filling honey supers. Good luck!
Yes it is a full time job trying to curb swarms. I didn't split any of these hives last year so they seem to be more swarmy instead of honey producers this yr. I'm not going to worry about them , whatever they do i'll deal with after the flow. I'm sure there will be many combines later this year. I'd like to keep my numbers at 20 or less but with all the swarm cells i've made into mating nucs i'm near 30 now. It's been a roller coaster year weather wise and the flow just doesn't seem to be steady.
I'd say pre-swarm. But not sure if they were drones or not. In any case it's always nice to have another hive.
There were a few drones but i get a few in every swarm. But the last swarm absconded and left the queen behind in the queen clip. Could have been another queen in the bunch .
I know I've seen a video from barnyard bees that had 4 queens in a swarm.
@@davidpaytonsapiary6911 , there are a lot of videos out there with 8 or more queens in a swarm.
LOL Got the same problem - running out of hive stand space!
I am past my capacity and don't want to make any more stands.
I'm thinking preswarm it's that time.
H Rob. That clump of bees on the tree was the swarm. If you would have checked I would bet your old queen was on that tree in the middle of that ball.
The queen that you found in your hive is probably a virgin queen possibly returning from a mating flight or getting ready for a mating flight
Except that clump flew back to the hive. they weren't on that tree 5 minutes. The weather has been too rainy and stormy to check for eggs.
She saw you coming and flew away to the cedar tree Lol. I’d say it was a swarm that chickened out since there’s capped cells in there. Better get to building more stands. 👍👍🐝🐝
Ha, I may put them in condo duplexes to save on stand space.
Did it stop the swarm?
That was loo long ago to remember
More stands.....grow your hives
Too many hives now