Multiple Swarms from One Hive
Posted: Wed May 18, 2022 4:38 pm
I got a 1lb swarm Sunday (5/15/22), a 500+/- bee swarm Tuesday (5/17/22), and a 2lb swarm came out this morning, 5/18/22. The 2lb swarm may be in my bait hive at the back of the yard. If not, a significant number of them went there by mistake and are separated from the swarm. The very small swarm had a queen. I put her in a queen catcher clip and put the small swarm in a nuc. When I checked them yesterday afternoon, the queen was dead in the clip and the bees were gone.
This morning's swarm was problematic. I put swarm commander on a branch one tree over from my bait hive, and tanged them down, but had to put on a veil because a number of the bees were buzzing, bumping, and then stinging. From the beginning, some were exploring the bait hive, but the bulk of the bees came to the branch I had sprayed. I shook them into my swarm bucket and went to the house to get a nuc set up for them. When I returned, most of the bees had left my bucket and the queen was not in it. The queen may have entered the bait hive early on and the others followed in time. Given these bees, the swarm may be in a tree somewhere and the bait hive will be largely empty this time tomorrow.
The hive putting out these swarms and otherwise misbehaving is a 3/24/22 swarm that came out of one of my home hives. If this one swarms itself to death, I won't be too upset.
This morning's swarm was problematic. I put swarm commander on a branch one tree over from my bait hive, and tanged them down, but had to put on a veil because a number of the bees were buzzing, bumping, and then stinging. From the beginning, some were exploring the bait hive, but the bulk of the bees came to the branch I had sprayed. I shook them into my swarm bucket and went to the house to get a nuc set up for them. When I returned, most of the bees had left my bucket and the queen was not in it. The queen may have entered the bait hive early on and the others followed in time. Given these bees, the swarm may be in a tree somewhere and the bait hive will be largely empty this time tomorrow.
The hive putting out these swarms and otherwise misbehaving is a 3/24/22 swarm that came out of one of my home hives. If this one swarms itself to death, I won't be too upset.