Joined
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3,097 Posts
This just seems weird. I got a swarm call from one of my outyard hosts. This yard has one boomer colony so I was expecting it. I let my colonies swarm if they want, and don't aggressively manage for swarm prevention.
So anyway I get out there and yep, there's an about five-pound swarm on the first tree the swarm would find, about 40' away. Classic. I caught them, marked the queen and set them up. Now meanwhile, the (presumed) parent colony is stinging and butting the heck out of me and has a beard (unusual, I use SBBs) so I take a look. Another queen walking around right in the beard! :s
So I reckoned at first that for sure I was catching the swarm from this colony. Now I'm not so sure... the one I caught was too big to be a secondary/tertiary swarm I would think (two virgins in afterswarms was one thought I had). But it was right there in front of the parent colony....
I haven't seen a queen when swarms issue... might they cluster on the entrance with the queen? I don't clip (though I'm getting better about marking!). It's always looked like they just kind of light out and land 50' away to do the checklist. Anyway, anyone speculate on what I'm seeing?
So anyway I get out there and yep, there's an about five-pound swarm on the first tree the swarm would find, about 40' away. Classic. I caught them, marked the queen and set them up. Now meanwhile, the (presumed) parent colony is stinging and butting the heck out of me and has a beard (unusual, I use SBBs) so I take a look. Another queen walking around right in the beard! :s
So I reckoned at first that for sure I was catching the swarm from this colony. Now I'm not so sure... the one I caught was too big to be a secondary/tertiary swarm I would think (two virgins in afterswarms was one thought I had). But it was right there in front of the parent colony....
I haven't seen a queen when swarms issue... might they cluster on the entrance with the queen? I don't clip (though I'm getting better about marking!). It's always looked like they just kind of light out and land 50' away to do the checklist. Anyway, anyone speculate on what I'm seeing?