Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Swarm #2 for 2014 - Bee Vlog - Apr 29, 2014

This swarm was in the same location as the one from yesterday, but was just easier to get to. I think there were actually 2 swarms in this tree, unfortunately I wasn't able to catch it on video. While gathering the cluster that was on the low branches I saw another cluster up on the top of the tree. At first I thought the queen had flown up there and they regrouped on the other branch. So I snipped it down and added it to the box. I saw the queen and promptly caged her.

Later when I got the box home I heard piping coming from the box - a sound queens make, usually before they do battle. When I put them in the hive all seemed just fine, and I kept the queen caged up. A couple hours later I went to go see how they were doing and I found a dead queen that had been ejected from the hive.

Later in the evening when I went into the hive to release the queen from the cage I found that she had already been released. I think I might have accidentally let it pop open when I was trying to push it into place in the comb.

So now I'm thinking there were 2 (or more queens). But I can't be sure until I get back into it and look for a queen in a few more days.


Video Link

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