[Pperry]

Good morning
Sitting outside watching my pellet smoker do its thing and noticed my bees went nuts.

In a high pine a "swarm" has gathered out of my hive. Out of inexperience and panic I open my hive and find it completely full of bees. I currently have a main hive body and 1 super.
The super has 4 capped frames and 5 with built comb and almost ready to cap. As some on each are beginning to be capped.

The "swarm" is too high for me to get to. I am learning the terms swarm vs absconded. The bees were new installs as of the first week of March.
If the bees were absconding this would mean all of the bees were possible not happy with their house and leave in search of a new one, correct?

Now i am left questioning if the remaining full hive has a queen or is at least in the process of rearing one.

Any advice would be appreciated on what my next steps should be. I hate to leave the swarm in that tree but may not have a choice.

Thanks from GA

 

[JWPalmer]

Bees ran out of space and have swarmed. There will be queen cells in the brood box. Do not look for them. In 10 days, do an inspection and look for opened queen cells. The bottom will be an almost perfect circular opening or maybe with a flap. Then close the hive back up and do not go into it for another two weeks. Once you see eggs, indicating a returned mated queen, consider adding a second brood box.

There are various methods for getting swarms out of trees depending on how high up they are and how big the branch is they are clustered on. The reality is that unless you can reach them with a ladder or entice them into a swarm trap, they are lost to you.

Bees swarm when they feel they are strong enough to create another colony. Unfortunately, they base this in part on how crowded they are. When the entire colony moves out, that is an abscond. Rarely happens once a colony is established in their hive. In the fall, what appears to be an absconding is bees dying from varroa related viruses.

 

[Pperry]

Much appreciated... This scenario was my suspicion/hope based on my limited knowledge.
Have a good one!