Tiny Swarm

[hofol]

Hello everyone,

I am wondering, can a very small amount of Bees be saved and maybe one day become hive.  Below is the story of how I came across a tiny swarm.

I've been reading about and watching a lot of youtube on Bees.   I was walking to the car after work on the 07/03/2019 and to my delight noticed a swarm forming (picture attached).

The next day they had settled inside the lower tree notch pictured and I continued to check on them every afternoon on my way to and from work.  They were happily flying in and out of the hole in the tree, creating a new home.  Then about a week ago I noticed the ants were moving in to steal their hard work.  Within 3 days I no longer saw the Bees coming and going, just a hoard of ants completely covering the notch.  The Bees were not to be seen again.

Then on Tuesday 02/04/2019 it was raining on my walk into work and I noticed a pile of wet bees on the footpath, as I looked up I noticed a very small swarm had formed on a branch above, I'm kicking myself that I didn't take a photo.  Once the rain had stopped I headed out, armed with a cardboard box (with a small entrance cut in the side), a cup of sugar water and a plastic fork.  I started by saving the wet bees that had piled up on the ground, luckily most of them were still alive.  Next, with the help of my lovely girlfriend who climbed into the tree to lower the branch so that I could cut the tiny branch supporting the tiny swarm into the box.  I sat the box on the ground nearby for the afternoon, in case there were any stranglers.  After work I took the bees to a mates house, who has a decent backyard.  He threw together a quick Hive and we transferred the bees into it. The next morning they had moved out of the hive and formed a grouping by the entrance (Picture attached), see told it was a very tiny swarm.

Now I understand the chances for their survival are probably slim to none, as they don't appear to have a queen and we're heading into winter.

But I was just checking to see if I purchased a queen and a couple of frames, left them some sugar water, would there be any chance they could rebuild before the winter hits?

Look forward to hearing your advice.

[BeeMaster2]

Welcome to Beemaster.
If the only bees are the ones on the entrance, they have a very slim chance.
That said, I had a nuc crash several years ago, it was late October, and I moved the bees into my observation hive. On Dec 22, there were about the same number of bees left. They were inside the house and it never went below 60 degrees f.
You are going into winter, how cold is it going to get. If you have warm winters, you might have a chance, especially if you have a constant flow.
Jim Altmiller

[ed/La.]

Bees do not swarm going into winter. These bees probably absconded for some reason. Probably robbing. With small amount of bees you should be able to find queen if there's one. The bee life span is short. Without a queen going into winter they are doomed. Even with a queen it probably to late in season for them to recover