When we got back from church, there was a cloud of bees in my front yard. My hives are all out back.
We assumed swarm and watched to see where they went. They went back to the front of a hive. They were bearded all over the front of that hive. In the course of thirty minutes most had gone into the hive.
This was not the normal orientation flight that I had seen. This was a cloud that was on the other side of my house. Do swarms sometimes return to their hive, before finally departing for good?
This hive's queen was a clipped queen purchased a year ago. I know she was still alive last fall. Was this a swarm and they returned because the queen could not fly? Or do orientation flights sometimes look like the swarm cloud and range out?
Will a flightless queen start walking with her swarm?
Jim
We assumed swarm and watched to see where they went. They went back to the front of a hive. They were bearded all over the front of that hive. In the course of thirty minutes most had gone into the hive.
This was not the normal orientation flight that I had seen. This was a cloud that was on the other side of my house. Do swarms sometimes return to their hive, before finally departing for good?
This hive's queen was a clipped queen purchased a year ago. I know she was still alive last fall. Was this a swarm and they returned because the queen could not fly? Or do orientation flights sometimes look like the swarm cloud and range out?
Will a flightless queen start walking with her swarm?
Jim