Swarm in August - why????

[tillie]

I had a swarm hive that I collected in early June. It has been slow to grow, but has grown to occupy a solid medium. Last night I noticed a lot of bees gathered on the front porch but thought it was bearding. Tonight my little dog came in from barking at the dogs next door against the fence covered with about 60 bees. I threw him in the shower and saved him from too many stings!

Then when I started wondering how he got stung away from the hives like that, I looked and there is a huge swarm against and through the hurricane fence. I went out and looked at the hives and the full-on-the-porch hive from yesterday is completely empty - no brood left, but lots of drawn comb.

I set a bottom board, a slatted rack and a box of empty frames with a top right beside the swarmed hive by the fence.

What should I do? Wave bye bye in the AM or hope that they return to the box?

Linda T in Atlanta

[tillie]

I posted this same message on Beesource and it was suggested that they may have absconded because they were hungry.  We are in a dearth and I have been feeding a ziploc baggie about every five days.  Yesterday it looked as if they might have had some robbing going on and I didn't do anything - maybe they were robbed out and decided to abscond.  I can give them some frames of honey from another hive if I can get them back in a box tomorrow.

Linda T

[Michael Bush]

I've seen some very "hot" bees from Texas swarm in a dearth, but I haven't had the Italians do it.  But I suppose a "population control" swarm would be a good term for that kind of swarm.  They think there are too many mouths to feed so they cut back.

[JP]

I've seen some very "hot" bees from Texas swarm in a dearth, but I haven't had the Italians do it.  But I suppose a "population control" swarm would be a good term for that kind of swarm.  They think there are too many mouths to feed so they cut back.

I've seen population control swarms and in my opinion bees will sometimes swarm to get closer to a food source, some disagree with me on this but I'm sticking to what I've seen, if no food is available they will at times swarm to get closer to a source.

If you think about it, this makes sense, and I often find that bees make practical decisions based on what's best for the colony.


...JP

[tillie]

This morning I opened up the old box to find a few scavenger bees - about 100 or so - milling around.  The combs were empty but for pollen.  There were two frames of honey....so they hadn't been completely robbed out.

I put together a box with the empty combs, the two frames of honey, two frames of honey from another hive, a new SBB, and a slatted rack and set this up about 10 inches from where the swarm was clustered on the fence.  I then tried to move the swarm into this hive and I don't think I got the queen.  They were on both sides of the fence and I didn't have access to my neighbor's yard.

So I left the box complete with swarm lure and went inside to get ready to go to work.

When it was time to leave for work, I looked and the swarm had taken flight.  Swirling above the box they appeared to be increasingly landing on the entry to the hive box, so I felt some hope that they were moving in to the box I provided.  I watched for a while.  I went back inside when the swarm had settled, went out in the yard, and a majority of the bees had regathered on the fence.  Either the queen didn't go in the box, or they were attracted to the pheromone. 

I now have permission from my neighbor to go into her yard if the bees are still clustered at the end of the day.  I'll let you know what happens.

Linda T

[rast]

 I sure hope this isn't the same neighbor that had the bees hive in her house and came over knocking on your door.

[johnnybigfish]

Looking forward to see what happens..Good Luck!
your friend,
john

[tillie]

Yep, same neighbor.  However, she and I just shared a glass of wine and I gave her a jar of honey and we had a nice "bee" connection. 

I came home to find that the bees moved in to the box I left for them right by the fence.  Now the question is how to move the box to a different location. 

My inclination is to combine it with another box on my deck who has brood since it's so late in the year and this box will have very little opportunity to build up for the winter.  I think I'll not put these bees back on my deck, since they decided to leave that location but rather in my yard next to another hive and combine it with another smaller swarm hive.

Any thoughts or advice to the "rest of this story"

Linda T in Atlanta

[BenC]

Saw your post on beesource as well, glad to hear you got them boxed up.  How's the dog?  Only thing I can suggest is if you're moving them a short distance and do the 2ft per day method, it's much easier to put the colony in a wagon or cart and roll a bit every day than it is to pick up/move/set down daily.  Good luck.

[rast]

Yep, same neighbor.  However, she and I just shared a glass of wine and I gave her a jar of honey and we had a nice "bee" connection.  
I do believe I would share a glass more often.
I came home to find that the bees moved in to the box I left for them right by the fence.  Now the question is how to move the box to a different location.
If you follow your inclination to combine, the answer to the question is easy.
 Rick

[tillie]

What I'm thinking is that I'll move this box to a location in my yard, not on my deck.  Then I'll combine by bringing the one deep of the other swarm hive down to this hive and do a newspaper combine.  Then both hives are combined but in a location not familiar to any of them.  I'll do the grass in the entry thing to help with orientation.

Does that sound like a plan?

Linda T relieved somewhat in Atlanta

[derrick1p1]

I've found the 'grass in the entrance' things works well for me when I'm moving, if only several feet away.  This late in the season, this sounds to be the safest bet.  "take your winter losses in the fall".

[rast]

 One thing I learned (the hard way) about the newspaper combine that I hadn't read about here. If the newspaper hangs out of the hive and you have a hard rain, the water will wick in and the newspaper will fall apart prematurely inside the hive.