Hiving a Swarm 2
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Nasonov gland exposed - this worker acts like a beacon to bring in the stragglers
The queen went in about here
I was called out for the first swarm of the season yesterday. A massive football sized cluster reasonably low down in a Lilac tree. I shook them into a box , transported them to the apiary and then dumped the lot in front of an empty hive. Here's the wonderful sight of them all heading for their nice dark new home, after about 5 minutes the nearest group of workers herded the Queen in through the right hand corner. The rest follow the trail of Queen pheromone and the Nasanov pheromone being fanned out by the workers at the entrance. !0 minutes later they were all in...
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Comments
I don't know if I'd have the guts to shake
out a hive and transport a group of bees to a
new one...
that being said, wow!
great macro shot too.
Posted 25 months ago.
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@ lmp Doesn't really need any guts, swarming
bees are pretty calm - that's why you can do this!
@ CR not sure who 'dat' is - looks bigger
than the other workers but definitely is a
worker. Much yellower than the dark local
strain - probably strayed in from one of the
other hives which still have the yellow genes
of the 'Italian' sub species
Posted 24 months ago.
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Will it mix in and stay or get driven away?
Posted 24 months ago.
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Normally when they're in swarming mode
they'll accept anybody. Many beekeepers will
throw a swarm into an existing weak hive to
increase numbers - there's rarely any
aggression...
Posted 24 months ago.
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Oh Dear - bad news today - I checked this
hive and they've absconded! Not a single bee
left ;-(
They clearly didn't like the château life
Posted 24 months ago.
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oh...too sad max...
Posted 24 months ago.
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Prepare to have the neighbors calling you to
come get them again?
Posted 24 months ago.
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Are they usually fussy about where they will
settle? Do you think it was the location of
the hive, or the hive itself?
Posted 24 months ago.
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extremely difficult to know - I would say
that about 20% of hived swarms abscond.
Something's obviously not right - it may
simply be that scouts have come back to say
there's a better cavity in the vicinity...
The books say that keeping them shut in the
hive for 24 hours increases the likelihood
that they will stay but I'm not sure anyone
has ever tested this experimentally - it's
also dangerous because the hive can overheat.
Nobody's called CR - but I've put my advert
in the village newsheet askeing people to
phone if they see a swarm ...
Posted 24 months ago.
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