swarm call 38 degrees

[jesuslives31548]

I got a call this morning from a man reporting a swarm of bees under his pump house. I could not imagine bees swarming here when its been in the low 20's. Not normal weather for us. Anyway I figure it was somthing other then bees. I went anyway, found a small swarm maybe 1 - 1 1/2 pounds. Looked around his property to see where they could have come from, nothing. No bee keepers in the area. Put them in a small nuc with drawn comb and alot of feed. Thought it was strange. I did not place them close to any of my yards due to unknown reason for them being there. Anyone ever seen bees swarm in cold weather. Only possible thing I can think of, they may have come off a passing bee truck off the interstate going to or from florida. Or they swarmed last week when it was in the 70's. They had not built any comb and where on the outside of the pump house.

[jeff123fish]

not sure if its relative or not but some times in the northeast we can get some pretty wet stretches where the bees cant fly for a few days. The crowded conditions can cause the bees to swarm. did you have good warm weather before the cold snap that the bees might have built up their numbers on?

-Jeff

[Gene Weitzel]

I have seen this on several occasions. Usually there is some kind of activity in the area that one can attribute to the possibility that their home was either destroyed or sufficiently disturbed to cause them to abscond during a short warm stretch. They are then kind of caught on "bivouac" when the temp dives.

[jesuslives31548]

I did notice today that the timber was being cut about a mile from where I found the swarm. Its likley one of the hardwoods that was cut contained the bees at one time. I hate seeing tracks of hard wood cut.

[Gene Weitzel]

I did notice today that the timber was being cut about a mile from where I found the swarm. Its likley one of the hardwoods that was cut contained the bees at one time. I hate seeing tracks of hard wood cut.

I would tend to agree with that assessment. I received seemingly endless swarm calls in the first couple of weeks after Ike came through here. I was amazed at how many folks there were who were completely unaware that there was a long established bee colony in a tree in their yard. They certainly became aware of it when the tree came down, in a few cases right into their living room!

[No_Bivy]

I have seen this on several occasions. Usually there is some kind of activity in the area that one can attribute to the possibility that their home was either destroyed or sufficiently disturbed to cause them to abscond during a short warm stretch. They are then kind of caught on "bivouac" when the temp dives.

no bivy here....weird, hope they survive

[Panhandle Bee man]

I have a hive that after several days of freezing weather has decided to swarm

[NorthALABeeKeep]

Be very careful...they could be Africianized. They tend to swarm a lot more and have smaller numbers.

[jesuslives31548]

I'm about 60 miles north of last reported AHB swarm reported. But I have worked witht them before. These are not AHB for sure. They are taking feed well in the nuc and th queen is laying. I will keep a check on them for a while before giving them away to another beek.

[beekinjax]

With a swarm that small will you have to give them some capped brood to get them through the three weeks it will take to make new bees?