Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Does anyone have any knowledge of small swarms this time of year. I went into the house at the wrong time this afternoon and missed the source of a baseball sized swarm. It may have originated from one of my hives or come from the outside. It is settled on a tomato plant in my garden and has been there since about 4:00 p.m. this afternoon.

Do hives put off small swarms with mated queens this time of year? It doesn't make sense that a strong hive would send out its queen with a non-viable sized swarm.

My hives clearly have not put off a primary swarm in recent weeks.

I would like to know if anyone has any knowledge or has read anything about this situation.

I am of the opinion, with nothing to back it, that they are not true swarms, but rather absconds consisting of the last few bees of a colony that was dieing out. They most likely came from a neighboring tree or building.

Totally agree!
Past experience indicates absconding hives. Most likely what is left from a bad situation. Hive got small, wax moth or small hive beetle moved in and bees finally left.

That makes sense. I have seen a couple of them in August at my location and another location. I have never been able to see the activity at the opening of a hive that clearly was swarming activity. The confusing factor yesterday was that when I went into the house for a few minutes, my bees were starting their orientation flights for the day. When I came back out, the bees away from the hive had a clear swarm flight pattern.

As of 7:30 a.m. the bees are still on the tomato plant. I will probably let them go. I tried to set the last one of these in a nuc a couple of weeks ago and it triggered robbing activity. The bees didn't last 24 hours in the nuc.

I saw another theory awhile back on another forum that also made sense. The beekeeper posted his idea that the small late season swarms could be from those dual queen hives that tolerated the old queen during the flow and warm weather, but became more crowded or confined as the hive put up stores for winter and began reducing the brood areas. He guessed that the old queen had some loyal followers who went with her as the crowding prompted swarming. No science behind it, but an interesting thought.