Got me a Big ole swarm......

[Daisy]

But I'm not convinced they are from one of My hives... yet. What cha think?

I got a call from daughter (at my city house) saying a swarm was in one of the trees outside the farm house. But get this.....

Daughters were outside most of the day working in the yard and with the horses....etc.

Neither one of them noticed a swarm forming about the yard. (they know what this looks and sounds like from previous couple of years)

I had six hives in the yard. Soooo anyway... The call comes in and I dash to the farm driving, well.... fast. And there on the tree, so low I could touch em, was this big long fat swarm. And you know the rest of the story....

anyway, I inspected the rest of my hives and they look amply populated. The activity at all the entrances look uniform... IOW, I couldn't tell which hive they came from... So I'm wondering if this swarm even came from one of the six hives in my yard??? Probable? Probably.

I reversed all the boxes in March, and I split the hives over a month ago for swarm prevention...etc.

Well, I lost a swarm last year. I watched them head over the pasture to the west of the house into some woods but didn't follow em. They are italians.... I'm the only person in the area that I know of who keeps bees. So I'm wonderin if this is a swarm from a group that wintered over in the woods?

How can I tell?

[Michael Bush]

Could be a swarm from last years swarm. Or from one of your hives. Sometimes they don't look that underpopulated after one and sometimes they do. You could tip bhe boxes up and look for queen cells that have recently emerged. They will still have the little caps attached where the queen chewed her way out. Of the virgins may not have emerged yet, so you might find capped queen cells a long way along.

[Daisy]

Hi MB and thanks....

I suppose tipping and peeking is the best way to learn but I'm not strong enough to do this, this time of year.

Last couple of seasons, when I captured my own swarms and hived them; in a matter of days they were going back to the old hive, robbin the hell out of it.

So I figured I would keep a watch for this activity again this year. Otherwise, I have no clue what the deal is. I sorta like the thought that the swarm is from the woods somewhere.

MB, I don't know what lime stone looks like so I don't know if I have limestone on the property or not...