AndrewLD wrote: ↑03 Oct 2020, 12:01
Anyway the myth goes that swarming bees cluster close by (within 100m to ensure the queen is present and await reports from scout bees (unless they have already selected a home and even occupied it - something I have observed with bait hives - or did I, might have been after an apiary planning meeting with a good bottle
)
As you say it varies, Seeley has shown that sometimes they fly direct to new scouted abode, sometimes they swarm and stay close until decision is made, sometimes they then fly for miles as I've observed on a few occasions when arriving at a swarm only to watch them fly off and disappear over the horizon. No definitive's.
I've never seen any research that suggests lemon grass is effective as an attractant, although some beekeepers swear by it. I tried it for several years in bait hives and never got a swarm. I have also tried bait hives for several years without it and never got a swarm.....perhaps more to do with where I live than the effectiveness of any additive. Now I don't bother with bait hives. And if every bait hive you use has lemon grass how do you know it was the lemon grass that attracted the swarm?
Swarms do follow routes on their journey. I have friends who inevitably get three to four swarms arriving in their garden every year, with no known beekeepers for miles. Probably more to do with the type of topography in that area that bees are programmed to follow, similar to DCA's.
Evolutionary sensible to not set up camp near the hive you just swarmed from, as too much competition for same resources.