Not a swarm - but queen won't stay in the hive

[BilllBee]

I got a call from a lady that was perplexed at her situation. She is a first time beekeeper that hived her first package on Saturday, May 5. On Monday, May 7 she checked the hive to see if the queen had been released. The queen cage was empty, but so was the hive. She noticed the bees in a cluster on the ground about six feet out from the front of the hive. She waited all day with hopes they would make their way back. As the sun started to set she realized they were not headed back to the hive, so she gently scooped them up with a dust pan and poured them back into the new hive.
She asked me to come take a look at them to see if I could find the queen. I was able to take a peek on Thursday, May 10. The afternoon was cool and windy, so the bees were tightly clustered and not revealing the location of the queen. There were the starts of fresh drawn comb on some of the frames. The comb was big enough for eggs, but none were seen. So we buttoned the hive back up with the thought to give it a week and see what happens.
Sometime over this past weekend, the bees decided to vacate the hive once again, and clustered on the ground in the same vicinity as the first time. She scooped them up and poured them back in.
Has anybody heard of this sort of behavior and what might be the reason?
We plan to re-queen the hive today, if the weather will cooperate with our intentions!

[Tom Brueggen]

Last fall I got a call from a lady that had a small swarm land in her back yard. I was out of town, so I asked her to place a cardboard box out, and put some honey in it for bait. She did, and the bees moved in. I went and recovered them, and moved them in a cardboard box to my yard. My first struggle was that I couldn't get them out of the box and into my TBH. They even started building a little bit of comb in the box. After a day or so I finally got up the nerve to just take there box when the majority of them were out at the feeder. I put the comb in the hive, and the feeder in the hive, and took the box. Then they started clustering on the ground, as mentioned above. Twice I used a flower pot, sprayed with sugar water a bait trap and relocated them to the hive. Both times the ended up back out on the ground.
All this time, I never saw the queen, or eggs in the little bit of comb they built. It is my suspicion that they never had a queen. I'm guessing she was injured in flight and fell to the ground, thus the bees landing in this lady's back yard. Anyway, I had to go out of town the next week and when I returned home the bees were all gone. I really wasn't surprised.
This was my first go at bee having, and it was everything that I expected from what I had read. I noticed a lot of fanning, and elevated aggression. Sounds like a queenless hive to me. Without the queen, the bees don't really have any guidance, and will just go to wherever traces of her scent, or of a familiar hive smell can be found. Thus the clustering in odd locations like the middle of the lawn. Enough bees start fanning there, and they all go there.

[Tom Brueggen]

Last fall I got a call from a lady that had a small swarm land in her back yard. I was out of town, so I asked her to place a cardboard box out, and put some honey in it for bait. She did, and the bees moved in. I went and recovered them, and moved them in a cardboard box to my yard. My first struggle was that I couldn't get them out of the box and into my TBH. They even started building a little bit of comb in the box. After a day or so I finally got up the nerve to just take there box when the majority of them were out at the feeder. I put the comb in the hive, and the feeder in the hive, and took the box. Then they started clustering on the ground, as mentioned above. Twice I used a flower pot, sprayed with sugar water a bait trap and relocated them to the hive. Both times the ended up back out on the ground.
All this time, I never saw the queen, or eggs in the little bit of comb they built. It is my suspicion that they never had a queen. I'm guessing she was injured in flight and fell to the ground, thus the bees landing in this lady's back yard. Anyway, I had to go out of town the next week and when I returned home the bees were all gone. I really wasn't surprised.
This was my first go at bee having, and it was everything that I expected from what I had read. I noticed a lot of fanning, and elevated aggression. Sounds like a queenless hive to me. Without the queen, the bees don't really have any guidance, and will just go to wherever traces of her scent, or of a familiar hive smell can be found. Thus the clustering in odd locations like the middle of the lawn. Enough bees start fanning there, and they all go there.

[Terrance]

Maybe placing a few drops of lemongrass oil in the hive box will fool them into staying til they can be requeened

[hilreal]

Was the queen clipped? Could she have tried to fly out and been on the ground where they were clustered? Possibly a virgin and heading out on a mating flight?

[BilllBee]

It was a package queen that I presume was NOT clipped.
I went there yesterday and we checked the hive. They have drawn comb on four frames. They are filling in Nectar and Pollen, but there were no eggs to be seen. I scanned the frames three times and never saw a queen.
We gave the hive a new queen by shaking the bees off the frames they drew out, put new frames in the lower deep, put on a queen excluder, added a second deep that we put the newly drawn frames in, a frame with some eggs from the new queen, and the new queen in a cage to be released.
Our plan is to inspect early next week, to assure the new queen is released and laying and that there is still no queen or eggs in the lower deep. Once I confirm no queen in the lower, we will set the hive back to a single deep.