[mcon672]

Neighbor stopped as he was driving by yesterday to tell me he saw a small swarm flying towards my place earlier in the day. Didn't think much of it, he's not really a bee person I went about my chores. Well sure enough I found a small swarm on the ground by the chicken coop. I caught the queen and out her in a nuc and the rest followed. I have more bees than I want now so I called a friend who has some struggling hives to see of he wanted them for a combine with a weak hive. He does and plans on getting them soon. The fall flow has been pretty good this year, Japanese knotweed finished up about two weeks ago and goldenrod is going strong right now. Still it's crazy to think they would swarm this late, no chance for survival over winter. Here's a pic of the queen she's small.

 

[Knisely]

Her wings look a bit ragged at the posterior edge. Not as bad as an old forager's get, but perhaps some supporting evidence that she is not a 2019 queen.

 

[Live Oak]

There is a good possibility that was not a swarm but a colony of bees absconding from a varroa mite overtaken hive. As a precaution, you may want to consider treating this "swarm" with OAV or some other effective mite treatment. A swarm this late in the season is unlikely to survive the Winter without a LOT of help.

 

[mcon672]

Yeah I noticed her wings were a little tattered.
Maybe why they were on the ground . All swarms get hit with OAV immediately. I'm not keeping them my friend is going to pick them up this evening. I have more bees than I want now.