Normally I would start pulling up my swarm traps and giving up on swarms in general about this time of the season. Usually I have all my swarm traps stored away by fourth of July weekend. This season however has been so strange I think I am going to keep them out for another few weeks.
This evening after I got home from work I went to check on the outter Apiaries and the conditions were just perfect for when I typically see swarms around here. It had rained a bit earlier with another front coming in but the sun was out in between them and it was heating up fast. Usually we see conditions like this earlier in June but this year they just started.
As soon as I stepped out at the North Apiary I saw a swarm forming. A huge cloud of bees above the hives and St. James Colony looked like it was literally shooting a stream of bees out of it's upper entrance. I parked myself to watch and see where the swarm would land and to my amazement all the bees settled right down on the very top of the hive they had left. Then slowly in groups of a few at a time they went back into their hive.
I then carefully began checking around the hives because last time I saw a false swarm I ended up finding the little group of bees you see above. A queen with a few attendants left all alone outside her hive. If that same scenario played out this evening then so be it but I have also seen the bees leave for a swarm and somehow not get the queen to come with them and I am pretty sure that is what happened this time.
This year has been so screwy and with scattered pockets spread around that seem to be weeks or a month or more behind that I am pretty convinced we are going to see an extended swarm season. Now whether or not that helps my pitiful capture record for this year is unknown right now.
As of the evening not a one of my Northern traps is showing any signs of scouts or interest by bees.
Just been a very strange year so far.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!
a very strange year so far is an under statement. Wettest June on record for us. The record was broken today.
ReplyDeleteRob - We are still close to being too dry down here. The last few weeks have pushed us up but we have little reserve moisture deep in the ground to fall back on. I hope we get some more rain here soon actually.
DeleteDo you think that the bizzare weather and the unusual bee behavior are somehow related?
ReplyDeleteHarry - I don't think so really. Last year despite the drought I had swarms coming in right and left. I think the unusual bee behavior is directly a result of the frigid Winter actually. I really think it killed off a lot of feral hives and set the ones that survived back so far it is taking them longer to work up to swarming.
DeletePP - you know that i love all of your bee advice, knowledge and observation. i have absolutely no advice to provide and i am so worried that it is gmo-related crops that have the bees acting stranger and stranger each year. but Harry raises a good question - from everything i have read from bloggers all over north america - everyone, regardless of where they live are experiencing bizzarre weather patterns???? i'll be very interested to hear your response which should probably be a new blog post.
ReplyDeletemuch love buddy! have Mrs. PP's lupins come up yet - they should have by now. just yell and i can send more! your friend,
kymber
kymber - I am sure the GMO crops hurt the bees overall but I don't think it does much to the ones around the small hold. I have looked and the girls around here just don't seem to work the bean fields much and corn or wheat have nothing for em anyway. Now if they were somewhere they had no choice I think it would hurt them more but here they just go for the open fields of natural non-GMO clover and such.
DeleteI hope your right (:
ReplyDeleteKelly - I hope I am right too :)
DeleteI always like to be right :)
The swarm I got in Canby 4 weeks ago was acting strange yesterday. I found dead bees, not a lot, maybe 50-100 and one dead queen and two alive on the plywood below the entrance to the hive today. It has 2 deeps with a super. Installed with one frame of comb & all the rest foundation. some maybe 8 frames drawn on both deeps. The 2nd was pretty heavy. Burr between the 2 boxes on the 2nd frame with honey in it. Still a good flow here with plenty of wildflowers, clover and blackberries. The bees were pissed so I didn’t pull any frames to check any further and I put it back together. It was 65* and windy. The small swarm I got near the wheel hive the other day were gone a day later. I wonder if this has anything to do with what’s going on. Any thoughts what happened?
ReplyDeleteHmmm. So you found a dead queen? That is unusual. Burr comb is something the girls do because they want drone cells. I have found that putting in the larger drone sized foundation will eventually limit the burr comb but not until they have enough drone cells made to suit them. The girls love their cabana boys.
DeleteA swarm leaving is always a danger. I am betting that you maybe seeing the same thing I am and there is so much prime real estate available they are not happy with a hive box. If the bees know of a hive with huge amounts of comb already built they will want to go there first.
Piched up the original swarm 30 miles from here.
DeleteHoney in the burr comb.
2 live and one dead queen. They had only been in the hive 4 weeks. Doesn't make sense to me a swarm would re-swarm that soon with plenty of room. But I am a long way from understanding 1/2 of what they do. I was wondering if maybe the small swarm I hived and which disappeared moved in with them & they had it out. Could that be possible?
I have heard of Africanized bees doing that. Anything is possible. Queenless swarms, double queen swarms. I think like any other biological creatures the bees sometimes get excited or things don't always go as planned. As for swarming after four weeks that is also common with some bees. Some bees are just made for swarming and it is all they ever wanna do. One reason I am a bit less manipulative on my hives. I figure it takes me longer to build up numbers but I spend less time trying to make the bees do something they don't want to do too.
DeletePP,
ReplyDeleteYou're seeing strange things with your bee's, and we're seeing strange things with our weather.