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Offline TheFuzz

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Hive swarmed
« on: February 03, 2020, 04:07:30 am »
I checked up on some hives three weeks ago. They were quite full of honey, I didn't have any spare boxs on me and I noticed they were low on space. One hive had two supers, one deep and one medium.

Anyway, just this weekend I went back to these hives, to do a honey extraction and provide another super. Unfortunately, the hive had been abanboned, it was full of wax moth which had done a suprising amount of damage during this time.

I can't recall if I checked the brood chamber for queen activity. It's shocking to me that I had a good strong healthy hive, then not even a few weeks later the hive swarmed. Could me visiting the hive, opening it up trigger them to swarm? Maybe they were already planning on doing so because the queen didn't have enough space for eggs?
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Hive swarmed
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2020, 05:30:06 am »
Sorry for your loss, Fuzz.  If it was truly a swarm, the bees would have left a capped queen cell(s) and half or so of the bees.  I would suspect they were queenless or had a high mite count when you checked them 3 weeks ago.  If it was a high mite count, that could be the cause of the colony absconding.
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Offline iddee

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Re: Hive swarmed
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2020, 10:33:26 am »
As stated, it didn't swarm. It died. A swarm never takes all the bees.
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Offline TheFuzz

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Re: Hive swarmed
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2020, 06:05:42 pm »
I used the wrong word, I meant to say they absconded, not swarmed. There's no dead bees. Just this one hive is empty, two beside it are full and active with laying queen. This hive has been there for about a year now.

Should I really be checking the brood chamber every time I open a hive to see if eggs are being laid? There would have been less guess work if I did so. Maybe I did open it and check and I just forgot, I probably need to start writing these things down because my memory is awful.

I don't think it's mites, they're not really a thing here in Australia and the hive doesn't seem to have any of the symptoms of mites.

What could have caused a hive that had a queen and was laying eggs, to suddenly not have a queen and not lay any more eggs?

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Offline iddee

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Re: Hive swarmed
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2020, 09:07:12 pm »
What happened to me was,    The queen was on the frame rest when I replaced the frame. All I saw was the abdomen, as the head and thorax was squashed under the frame.  OOPS!! No more eggs
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“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein

Offline Jen

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Re: Hive swarmed
« Reply #5 on: February 04, 2020, 12:19:59 pm »
Hi Fuzz, so we here in the states are in winter mode, so your climate now is summer mode right? This is what I can offer:

There is Abscond and Colony Collapse Disorder. I have dealt with many swarms of my own over the last 10+ years. But I've only had one abscond or it may have been CCD. One day I looked out at my hives and this one was was absolutely empty, I'm guessing abscond because that year our west coast state was on fire all summer long. Bees don't like smoke so they made an attempt to leave the hive and look for a better home.

In my opinion vs Iddees. If your hive had lost it's queen, the bees would have made another queen from eggs, so all would have been well. IF there were no eggs, then the bees would have become laying workers, and in time the hive would have become drone ladened. It takes weeks for a drone ladened hive to die out. So given the time frame you gave us, this would not be the case of your absent colony.

I think your hive hit the road, and there isn't always an answer. Maybe this link will help  ;)
http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2010/07/absconding-vs-colony-collapse-disorder.html


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