# Did my hive swarm or not?



## wanderyr (Feb 11, 2012)

Well, I did it. I accidentally let me strongest hive swarm 

Bees were all over the outside of the hive, in the bushes next to it, and matting down the lawn for a few feet! Lots of bees!

There were also many in the air. This hive is in my back yard, in a small suburban lot. The air in the back yard was full of em.

So, I started scrambling around to get equipment ready to catch them, if I could. I was never out of the back yard for more than 3 or 4 minutes at a time.

I never saw them fly off en masse. The numbers seemed to slowly diminish, as the bees (over an hour and a half) went back in the hive (around 2:30 or so). But, maybe they did fly off and there were simply lots of bees left over...

So, my question: With so many bees making their way back into the hive, does that imply that the queen hasn't left yet? I haven't had a hive swarm before, so I don't know if all the bees hanging on the hive would have left with her or if lots would have stayed behind. I didn't see the swarm anywhere nearby, but I live in a residential area and they could be anywhere.

What do you all think? If she's still in the hive, I assume they'll try again tomorrow. Is there some way to catch them on the way out, so I don't have to try and find them after they leave? I really like this queen 

Thanks,
wanderyr


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## kchurch38 (Aug 27, 2012)

The same thing happened to me last Saturday, from a hive I didnt expect to swarm. It was cloudy and a thunderstorm was coming and temp was about 80. I was tapping on a pie pan to get them to settle before the storm arrived and they all went back inside the hive.
After much research I understood they would try again on the next warm non rainy day. That day was Wednesday but I thought I would be prepared by doing a controlled swarm. Finding the queen moving her and over half of hive to new box away from current location.
I was three racks in looking for the queen at 9:45am and she walked out the front door taking about 40% with her to a holly tree about 20 feet away. I was able to hive them and add some of the racks from the current 2 hive box setup. with new racks and foundation. There were 4 swarm cells in the hive.
They will swarm so be ready or try to do a controlled swarm as I did just get there sooner. Make sure you can find the queen and make sure the existing hive has queen cell to replace her with.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

It's true they sometimes go out and then come right back. It happened last year to a hive that we were going through on a club field day. 

It can also be hard to tell if a hive has swarmed or not. Sometimes a bunch of bees leave, but the hive still seems to be very strong.


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## wanderyr (Feb 11, 2012)

Thanks guys.

I was preparing to do an artificial swarm, but they decided to do a real one first. So, I could do one tomorrow morning (tomorrow will be warm and dry), but I don't want to go through the hive if she's already gone.

My only clue is that there were so many bees that returned to the hive. If a swarm did happen, are there still tons of bees left outside the old hive? Or do most of them fly away with the queen?

Thanks!
wanderyr


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## wanderyr (Feb 11, 2012)

After midnight here, I just went to look at the hive (I was up anyway)

Turns out that there is a large mass of bees under the hive! I have an open screened bottom board, held up on the four corners by bricks. The entire space under there is chock full of bees... Looks like I'll have to watch closely tomorrow.

I'll post an update after something happens 

-wanderyr


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## kchurch38 (Aug 27, 2012)

With that many bees hanging on to the bottom you either have a very crowded hive or they started a swarm and the queen balked, leaving many nurse bees out that have never been outside the hive before and are huddled under it where they smell the queen waiting for her to make a move, unable to get to her. That is the only thing I don't like about screened bottom boards. The queen smell is very strong but these bees don't know how to get back to her. This has also happened to me before even when hiving a swarm using a hive with the screened bottom. For the other 364 days of the year the screened bottom is the way to go.


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## kchurch38 (Aug 27, 2012)

by the way 
good luck


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## wanderyr (Feb 11, 2012)

Thanks, kchurch 

Yes, they're still under there. I've been waiting all day for something to happen, but everything stays the same. The hive seems quite strong and there are sure a lot of foraging bees; I still don't know whether the swarm happened or not.

I figure that tomorrow morning I'll try for an artificial swarm. If I find the queen and do the AS, I'll shake all the bees under the bottom board into her new home. If not, I'll shake them back into the hive! I'll have to figure out how to manage the boxes to make this possible :scratch:

The bees under there have been outside of the hive (without food) since yesterday. Do you think they'll be OK for another night?

Thanks! I'll let you know!
-wanderyr


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## kchurch38 (Aug 27, 2012)

Yes, but I would go in and look for swarm cells, if you find them, do the AS asap.


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## wanderyr (Feb 11, 2012)

Whew! I have never been in a hive for so long. Probably an hour and a half or more. The girls were complacent, thankfully 

I couldn't find the queen. There were about six swarm cells (plus one that looked like a supersedure cell). Four of them were capped, big, and beautiful, one was open with a lot of royal jelly in it, another was empty, although I don't know if it was unused or already emerged.

So, I just dumped all the bees that had been clustering under the bottom board into the hive. There were a lot of them! Probably more than in a 3-lb package. They were hungry after a few days under the hive. They filled up frames with their heads in the nectar 

There were so many bees, I'm having a hard time convincing myself that they swarmed. I went through each frame twice (not easy with four mediums of brood in a booming hive  ), but I suppose I could have still missed her. If she's there, I'm sure she'll swarm very soon! I hope so, and that I can collect them, because I really didn't want to lose that one.

Thanks for everything! If a swarm happens, I'll update the thread.

Take care,
wanderyr


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