# Usurpation Swarm



## trishbookworm (Jun 25, 2016)

I have seen something weird - a swarm return to what I think was its original hive. Then they swarmed again the next day.

Cool that you caught this one - I think swarms are attracted to existing beeyards.

I would wager though that these bees will grow to be hot. Always interesting to have new genetics though!


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Trish:

Thank you for your input- I do appreciate it. While I cannot confirm this because I do not mark my queens, it appears likely that the attempted usurper swarm contained the queen (based on her unique coloring) from a hived feral swarm that I caught this Spring and that was in the process of supercedure early this week.

If this assumption is correct, it fits with Dr. Mangum's hypothesis that rather than eliminating the old queen in supercedure, the colony sends her out with a cadre of experienced foragers to attempt a "genetic takeover" of sorts of another established colony. 

What makes it more curious (assuming I'm correct) is that this usurping swarm came from one of the weakest colonies in our apiary in terms of numbers and attempted to enter one of the strongest.

While discussing this in an e-mail group I am a part of, many are convinced this is an AHB trait and suggests that our feral population is being influenced by AHB genetics - might lend credence to your "hot" hive prediction!


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

I had a swarm take over a queen less hive last year. It had been missing the queen for a couple of week and I was going to combine it with another hive. When I went to do the combine the "weak" hive that had been 2-3 frames of bees was overflowing with bees and had several frames of young larva. I had to add another box to it before winter. It survived the winter, expanded quickly in the spring and I split it during the summer. I even got a super of honey off it this summer. We don't have AHB as far as I know so I think it was just a feral swarm.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Gary: Thank you for sharing your story- that is really neat, and I am glad that the feral swarm helped make your hive queen-right. Have a great weekend.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I have seen usurption swarms several times at my shop. Both times they moved into a weak hive with a funky queen. The one this year came in while I sat nearby eating lunch. The existing queen from a swarm had done nothing and the hive now is seven jumbo frames and thriving. Easy Money!


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

i have had one.

i found the usurping queen in a wad of bees on the ground a few feet from the hive entrance.

it was late in the season and i didn't need an extra queen nor am i too interested in having that trait expressed in my stock, so i pinched her.

some of the usurping bees assimilated with the target colony, and some just hung out below the rim of the telescoping cover until they died.


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

I've had three softball sized swarms moving through my apiary this week. I have one queenless hive in seven hives close to the small swarm today. I'd like to see it move into the queenless hive. I can requeen later. I'm attaching pictures of usurpation swarms I've seen in my apiary.










In the swarm shown below, I opened the hive and rescued the original queen and mashed the usurping queen. 










More pics...


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

walt once told me about one watching a usurpation swarm move into a queenless hive.

there was none to very little fighting, no bees killed.

his comment was, "it was like they were invited".


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

OdFrank: Thank you for your helpful feedback. I sincerely appreciate it! You seem to be quite astute at swarm behavior- I read your posts this Spring from years ago about fighting at a bait hive and found you were exactly right- two potential swarms were fighting for location! Thank you for sharing your expertise- it has proven helpful more than once.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Lburou: Great information and helpful pictures! When you read the published literature it suggests that this is a rare occurance among EHB's, but the more beekeepers I talk to, it seems like it is more common than conventional wisdom suggests. Thank you again for the information, and have a great weekend. Russ


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Squarepeg: Great information- Walt seemed to have the rare ability to both identify and interpret hive dynamics in such an astute way. As of now, the swarm is successfully assimilated in a nuc and has provided a real shot in the arm. We'll see what the last month of flying brings.


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

it sounds like the desperate swarm is blessed to have found you russ.

usurpation is especially prevalent with africanized honey bees, and they are known to attempt overthrow of even queenright and healthy colonies.

it's unlikely you have them in kentucky unless they hopped off a train or something.

is the target hive queenright and brooding properly?


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Squarepeg: Thank you for your feedback. Good information. The irony is that the target hive is the strongest hive in our apiary in terms of population and seems to be heading into winter in good stead. I am with you that I wouldn't suspect AHB based on the Colorado State models, but I asked our state apiarist and she has not yet responded. I suspect (though cannot confirm) that the attempted usurper came from a feral colony I hived this spring and was in the process of superseding based on the unique coloring of the usurper queen- and one of the weakest colonies in the yard.


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

understood. in my case the target hive turned out to be the weakest in a line of 12 hives, it was #4.

it was a late split that was small in population compared to the other colonies in the yard but developing nicely. it made it to wintering strength, survived, and was productive the next year.

not too smart of yours to try to capture the strongest one in the yard.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Squarepeg: The only other consideration is that the hive in question had the highest relative mite load and I wonder if the usurperers know something that I don't from a genetic perspective. Bees are simultaneously fascinating and frustrating 🙂.


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

well that leads me to postulate that perhaps the target hive wasn't picky enough about letting in drifting bees.

that's one way a mite count can go up. perhaps the usurpers had already been doing some 'visiting'.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Squarepeg: Now that is an excellent suggestion that I hadn't considered! In fact, the feral swarm came "pre-mited" but seemed to clear the issue up as the summer progressed. Certainly plausible that they dropped several dozen off while scoping out potential new real estate. Thank you for your insight- it is most appreciated. Russ


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Summer 2020 update from Dr. Mangum- cool stuff.


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## mtnmyke (Apr 27, 2017)

Litsinger said:


> While discussing this in an e-mail group I am a part of, many are convinced this is an AHB trait and suggests that our feral population is being influenced by AHB genetics - might lend credence to your "hot" hive prediction!


This is exactly what I was thinking, before you even said it. AHB have a reputation for doing this and although it doesn't account for 100% of cases, is something you should keep an eye on as you continue to work the hive. I'm one of those keepers who feel a responsibility to keep gentle bees. As I produce all my own queens one can only hope everyone in my area is on the same page - considering temperament is passed on through the drones.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

mtnmyke said:


> This is exactly what I was thinking, before you even said it. AHB have a reputation for doing this and although it doesn't account for 100% of cases, is something you should keep an eye on as you continue to work the hive.


Thanks for the response, mtnmyke. Two years later following this event and the suspected usurpation-issuing colony (#1804) is still around and is a model of good behavior.

Thus far, this is the only Summer swarm event I have recorded in my yard, but it appears to be a fairly common event in Dr. Mangum's operation.

I sincerely hope all is well with you and your family. I hope you all have a joyous and blessed Thanksgiving.

Russ


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## LAlldredge (Aug 16, 2018)

One of my strongest has displayed this behavior for 2 years. I think its an original swarm coming back to reclaim their space. Population swells, some fighting, then they settle into winter mode. Just that one hive. Italian large population that also go through stores. Whatever. Just adds to the character of the yard.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

LAlldredge said:


> One of my strongest has displayed this behavior for 2 years. I think its an original swarm coming back to reclaim their space.


That is really interesting, LAlldredge: Is it a large group of bees or is it a small cluster as generally described by Dr. Mangum?


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## LAlldredge (Aug 16, 2018)

Litsinger said:


> That is really interesting, LAlldredge: Is it a large group of bees or is it a small cluster as generally described by Dr. Mangum?


Large cluster.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Another interesting article (Part 1) concerning usurpation by Dr. Mangum in the December 2021 ABJ.

I've observed something akin to this phenomena twice in my apiary, the last being this Spring:



Litsinger said:


> As I watched the cluster, I noticed that a significant number of the swarming bees were bum-rushing the entrance of #1912 and before I knew it, the dark mated queen from #2001 rushed into #1912. A usurpation swarm. The whole event from start-to-finish took less than 10 minutes.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

And Part 2...


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## Gray Goose (Sep 4, 2018)

Litsinger said:


> All:
> 
> I'd be interested to hear if anyone in the group has ever experienced an
> usurpation swarm in action?
> ...


yes I have seen this.
i'll offer what I would do:
treat the swarm , late swarms sometime leave due to mites.
check the hive they tried to get into. often it is queen less, in Nature IMO late swarms were targeted to requeen failed queen hives with comb and stores. IMO the swarm can smell the queen state. the bees may have a queen Cell and defend the usurpation only to later have her not mate and be a drone layer.
do mountian camp on the place you put the swarm, it now has more bees and the same food.

none of the above may be true this time for you but all have been observed.

odd time to swarm, the parent if having a cell may end up queen less. ??

Since it appeared to be feral, changes to your methods may not affect this behavior. also as feral IMO they should not have swarmed, Maybe a tree blew down in the wind and these absconded, from the downed bee tree.

You will be surprised at times when keeping, I still am almost every year. Just when you think you know it all, presto a strange thing happens.

GG


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Thanks, GG. I have observed this behavior twice in my yard.

The first was the genesis of this post a few years ago and was a classic late summer usurpation, triggered by a supercedure in the parent colony. The old queen departed with a cadre of bees in a softball-sized cluster and attempted to enter a queenright hive- I intercepted them and combined them with a struggling nuc. In retrospect I should have let the usurpation succeed, as the besieged colony failed due to PMS a few months later and the nuc failed too. At least if I had let it progress I could have had the opportunity to watch the process.

The second one occured this year during swarm season and was successful (I think?). The invader queen became the resident queen of the invaded colony and the invaded colony queen left the hive with a small swarm that was ultimately hived and is thus far still kicking.

This usurpation business is really interesting stuff...


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## Gray Goose (Sep 4, 2018)

squarepeg said:


> walt once told me about one watching a usurpation swarm move into a queenless hive.
> 
> there was none to very little fighting, no bees killed.
> 
> his comment was, "it was like they were invited".


Maybe they do.
Knock Knock, hey can we have your queen?

GG


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## thill (Nov 30, 2020)

I had this happen once. I had a swarmy hive, so I made a 3 frame split, and moved them to the opposite side of the yard. Two days later, I noticed that the box was cram-packed full of bees. No dead bees, except for my queen, dead on the landing board. I was warned about AHB, but it turned out to be a great hive, nice an gentle. I checked, and they came from my swarmy hive. They simply finished what they had determined to do.


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## Knoxville1 (8 mo ago)

I think I had two small nucs usurped yesterday and the day before. Both times occurred late afternoon. On Wednesday I thought initially it was robbing. Bees flying around on the back side and underneath, trying to get in through cracks. But no fighting on the landing board and no dead bees. The usurpers it seemed were going into the hive with little opposition. There was no capped comb pieces on the landing or under the hive. I was perplexed and couldn't figure out what was happening. This nuc has been queenless for two months and just Saturday I uncapped a queen cage trying to introduce a queen. I remembered reading about usurpation events and decided to nothing other than closing down the entrance a little. Yesterday the hive was normal from peeking inside but with double the normal traffic coming and going. These new bees are much darker than the others. Yesterday all of this occurred at an adjacent similar nuc. I'm pleased because my goal has been to get them queenright. Next Wednesday I plan to go inside and expect to find that my marked and newly introduced queens will have been replaced by these feral bees.


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## thill (Nov 30, 2020)

It's a bit late in the season but is very possible. What area are you in?

Those could also be mating swarms. My two recent splits had mating swarms yesterday and today. It's exactly as you say- looks almost like robbing, but no fighting, wax or dead bees. Just a lot of activity. Could you tell if there were many drones in the mix? 

Either way, as long as you have a queen-right box of bees in the end, all is good!


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## Knoxville1 (8 mo ago)

I'm in Northern Illinois. Bees are swarming around here. A friend of mine caught a swarm in a trap today. I didn't particularly notice drones in the mix. Both hives are grand central station today for activity. My only goal was to have these nucs be queen right, so maybe I get some free extra genetics. next Tuesday I can go through them and see if I can find the queen.


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## Litsinger (Jun 14, 2018)

Knoxville1 said:


> Next Wednesday I plan to go inside and expect to find that my marked and newly introduced queens will have been replaced by these feral bees.


Very interesting- I'll look forward to reading your update. Sounds likely based on the events and circumstances you describe.


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## thill (Nov 30, 2020)

Knoxville1 said:


> I'm in Northern Illinois. Bees are swarming around here. A friend of mine caught a swarm in a trap today. I didn't particularly notice drones in the mix. Both hives are grand central station today for activity. My only goal was to have these nucs be queen right, so maybe I get some free extra genetics. next Tuesday I can go through them and see if I can find the queen.


Must be nice! We have been in a hot and dry dearth around here, Rrecently we have had a lot of rain, so we might have a good fall season.

When my split got usurped, it filled the box overnight, and turned out to be a great box of bees. Hopefully, yours do the same. If they are still swarming, you still have flow, and they should build up fast. Hope it goes well for you.


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## Knoxville1 (8 mo ago)

I looked through the hive that I thought I saw the usurpation behavior in today. It had lots of capped brood. It should have had a marked queen. I didn't see the marked queen, nor an unmarked queen. I learned to never take your magnifying headset apart 5 minutes before hive inspection.


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## thill (Nov 30, 2020)

Nice! 
So it may have been a batch of young bees orienting, or it may have been a mating swarm.
If she is a virgin, they are harder to find for sure.


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## Knoxville1 (8 mo ago)

Next time with my new improved magnifier headset, I should be able to verify 'no paint on queen'. There was lots of brood.


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## clong (Apr 6, 2015)

This usurpation thing has my head spinning. Weird stuff.

I wonder if someone with a Broodminder scale or similar, has anyone ever seen the weight (or temp) spike in conjunction with a usurpation swarm.

I'm going to have get out my old ABJ issues on usurpation and read them again. Incidentally, Wyatt Mangum is my favorite ABJ columnist.


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