I am in need of some opinion.
Twice now in the last month my beekeeping partner has called to tell me that "a small swarm" has formed and that I am welcome to it if I want.
Both these swarms have been about two cups of bees. I put the first in a nuc thinking it probably was the remnant of a swarm that had departed and that it would be gone the next day. Surprise; eggs and brood a week later.
Today I had cut some old comb and fitted it in tiny frames for a "baby nuc", the first I had completed for next year's effort. When my buddy called I just took this nuc over and shook the bees into it. I put it on a box under the branch where the bees had clustered and in l5 minutes this 8-inch cube was a going beehive.
Now, what I want to know is this: What in the devil are these bees doing, throwing tiny casts in mid-September? Am I picking up mating swarms? Are these bees accompanying a supersedure queen on a mating flight and then not going home? Are these the "surplus" queens from a group reared for supersedure? Is this a normal event? My friend's hives are healthy and working, but not particularly crowded. No indication that they are so crowded that they need space.
I have never seen this before---not that I have seen everything, but I certainly did not expect these tiny swarms. Please let me know what you think.
Oxankle
Twice now in the last month my beekeeping partner has called to tell me that "a small swarm" has formed and that I am welcome to it if I want.
Both these swarms have been about two cups of bees. I put the first in a nuc thinking it probably was the remnant of a swarm that had departed and that it would be gone the next day. Surprise; eggs and brood a week later.
Today I had cut some old comb and fitted it in tiny frames for a "baby nuc", the first I had completed for next year's effort. When my buddy called I just took this nuc over and shook the bees into it. I put it on a box under the branch where the bees had clustered and in l5 minutes this 8-inch cube was a going beehive.
Now, what I want to know is this: What in the devil are these bees doing, throwing tiny casts in mid-September? Am I picking up mating swarms? Are these bees accompanying a supersedure queen on a mating flight and then not going home? Are these the "surplus" queens from a group reared for supersedure? Is this a normal event? My friend's hives are healthy and working, but not particularly crowded. No indication that they are so crowded that they need space.
I have never seen this before---not that I have seen everything, but I certainly did not expect these tiny swarms. Please let me know what you think.
Oxankle