Hive swarming 3 times in 4 days??

[derekNGA]

Hello all, new beekeeper here obviously.  First hives last year this time.  Im in central Ga.  Winter was, well, what winter.  It was insanely warm and this spring is like summer.  I had started with two hives last year.  Over a month ago my strong hive swarmed.  Captured and doing great.  My weak hive, from day one of getting them last year its been one problem after another.  Going into winter seriously they did not even have 3 fully drawn out frames.  This spring they have exploded and appear to be doing great.  Ive added on a shallow super a while back and 2 weeks ago a second.  The last few weeks they have been bearding alot.  Globs of bees outside the hive in 2 inch thick layers/balls.  On April 26th I seen a swirly mass of bees above the hive, none at the hive, and the mass was steadily moving away until gone outta sight.  Swarm from the hive or a swarm from somewhere else I have no idea.  Side note...my 3 hives are about 100 yards apart.  Back to topic.  On April 28th, the hive did swarm.  I witnessed it in from the neginning.  Out and up into a tree abour 10 yards beside hive.  But up to high to get...bummer.  They stayed til late afternoon the 29th and left.  None of my dummy boxes setup were enticing enough.  Gone forever.  Yesterday, the 30th, I was laying in hammock and noticed a dark blob in a tree beside the same hive, even closer than the previous swarm cluster.  Walk over and cluster of bees it was.  From when I spotted them til they left was about 15 minutes, and unfortunately they were too high to get, even if I had time.  The hive does appear to be far less in numbers.  Is it coincidence or is it possible the hive swarmed 3 times? And if so why?  The two clusters both were the size of a football with the first one being bigger. 

[Psparr]

They can and will swarm multiple times. There were plenty of queen cells in the hive and the bees felt it necessary to throw multiply swarms.

[BeeMaster2]

Derek,
Go over to that hive and place your ear on the hive. See if you can hear any queens piping? You will hear a long high pitch tone then maybe 3 short tones. If you can hear it, your bees plan on swarming again.
If you do hear them, I would get at least 10 queen cages or things that you can put 10 queens into and keep them separate, and take that hive apart. They will swarm this hive to death. By the time it is done, swarming, it will be so week that the SHB take over.
When you do take it apart, pull one frame at a time. The minute you disturb the bees and they stop keeping the queens locked in, the queens will be hatching out everywhere. Keep at least one queen to put back into the hive when you are done.
If you cannot use the queens and do not know anyone else that needs them, put them in alcohol for swarm lures.
Jim

[derekNGA]

Referring to comment left by sawdstmakr...
Its been storming and raining this morning.  Windy and cooler.   Listening to all three hives, in the two not swarming, there was just the normal scratchy and buzz noise.  In the hive thinking that has swarm 3 times, I hear two different noises.  I hear at least two maybe three different (kindda reminds me of a car alrm going off), beep, beep, beep, beep continuing on for 20-50 times.  Then on occasion there will be zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, zep, zep.
So, if Im understanding Jim correctly, I need to end this madness? Is there any other way to interpret the noises as they meaning anything other than another swarm in the near future?
Have another question concerning what I think are thrips covering my hives but Ill start a new post for that.

[derekNGA]

After the rain the sun just came out briefly.
Thats all it took, the hive just threw another swarm.
Standing here now watching them.  And if course, settling down too high up again.....

[Acebird]

I think I would try that net trick the old Germans used with skeps.

[cao]

I feel your pain with all the swarms.  I've caught 15 so far.  Most from my hives and probably half from about three hives.  There was three swarms in my trees at the same time about 20 feet apart.  I hope they are about done.  A couple of the swarms were bigger than a basketball.  I've got a bucket mounted on a painter's pole that extend to 15 ft. to help with those high ones.  I couple of the swarms I caught was about 25 ft up in a tree.  As fun as catching swarms is, it does get tiresome. With all the swarms and splits I've had to make this year I've gone from 20 overwintered hives to 43(providing queens make it back from mating flights).  I still have a hive or two that needs splitting.

[BeeMaster2]

Referring to comment left by sawdstmakr...
Its been storming and raining this morning.  Windy and cooler.   Listening to all three hives, in the two not swarming, there was just the normal scratchy and buzz noise.  In the hive thinking that has swarm 3 times, I hear two different noises.  I hear at least two maybe three different (kindda reminds me of a car alrm going off), beep, beep, beep, beep continuing on for 20-50 times.  Then on occasion there will be zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, zep, zep.
So, if Im understanding Jim correctly, I need to end this madness? Is there any other way to interpret the noises as they meaning anything other than another swarm in the near future?
Have another question concerning what I think are thrips covering my hives but Ill start a new post for that.

What you are hearing are queens piping. I would definitely take them apart and remove the queens and then add one back.
This is a good time to learn how to mark them. You will end up with more queens than you can use.
The queens are trying to get the bees to pick them as the next queen to be released. I suspect the louder or longer they pipe is what the bees use to select who is released next.
Good luck.
No

[BeeMaster2]

I think I would try that net trick the old Germans used with skeps.

Brian,
You could if you have learned what a hive looks like just before they swarm. They waited until it was ready to swarm before putting the net on. If you figure it out, let us know.
Jim

[Acebird]

You might not get the first swarm but for multiple swarms you might catch the second and third.  They like to swarm on nice days in late morning so maybe it is worth a try.  I am wondering if the que is that the foragers stop coming and going.  It has to be something simple.  Funny it wasn't noted in the videos.

[BeeMe]

Sorry for your loss Derek we all feel it.