Hello all,
I was over at my apiary the other evening and came across a large mass of bees on the front of one colony - At the top on the super. See pic
https://ibb.co/5WB5gpH
I split this colony by 3 weeks ago and put the old queen in a Nuc. I inspected the colony in the pic on Saturday and all was well. Plenty bees very calm and saw a new queen and marked her.
I scooped the bees onto the crown board and they a slowly walked into the supers but were doing a lot of fanning. I also put a handful on the landing board and they walked in ok.
I went back the next day and found the new marked queen. Initial reactions have been that the queen went on mating flight and when she came back landed in the super. The bees that followed decided to stay. I have a nagging doubt however that it may have been a swarm! The bees looked exactly like the Buckfast bees from the colony.
Any thoughts?
I was over at my apiary the other evening and came across a large mass of bees on the front of one colony - At the top on the super. See pic
https://ibb.co/5WB5gpH
I split this colony by 3 weeks ago and put the old queen in a Nuc. I inspected the colony in the pic on Saturday and all was well. Plenty bees very calm and saw a new queen and marked her.
I scooped the bees onto the crown board and they a slowly walked into the supers but were doing a lot of fanning. I also put a handful on the landing board and they walked in ok.
I went back the next day and found the new marked queen. Initial reactions have been that the queen went on mating flight and when she came back landed in the super. The bees that followed decided to stay. I have a nagging doubt however that it may have been a swarm! The bees looked exactly like the Buckfast bees from the colony.
Any thoughts?