Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Swarms, Cut Outs, Trap Outs and Bee Trees => Topic started by: blueblood on June 08, 2014, 11:49:18 pm
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Step-dad wanted to take a ride back to the yard one last time this evening before leaving tomorrow. I found a small swarm hanging from one of my young pines. He was able to experience one more treat from the yard. The last swarm in the yard was 4 days ago. I have read about afterswarms occurring within moments to 2 days but not 4. I found the queen within 30 seconds on the bottom of the cluster.
On one hand, afterswarms can indicate strong colonies wishing to spread about but it can also weaken a hive by decreasing its population even further. I hope to see some discussion on this topic of afterswarms. Apis, this is where you come in friend. ;D
I apologize up front as my little Blueblood was allowed to do the filming and it is bouncy and blessed with her antics. :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAwdShABKL8&feature=youtu.be
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LOL!! She did a good job!
I am assuming its her father she takes after?? ;D Enjoyed that as usually Blue. Thanks!
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She is a good mix of both. Momma is pretty mischievous and I pale in comparison... :laugh:
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Good Job Bella! I was able to follow the entire procedure :) And I think you are going to be the next Miss Queen Bee America :D
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Good Job Bella! I was able to follow the entire procedure :) And I think you are going to be the next Miss Queen Bee America :D
Oooh.. No kidding! The next Honey queen is inbound!
She is a good mix of both. Momma is pretty mischievous and I pale in comparison... :laugh:
Riiiight.... ;)
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Nice catch Dave... Good job on filming young lady. Tom
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Honest Engine Scott, I pale in comparison ;D
Up early, released the queen. Interesting note that the queen was hanging in the clip alone with one other bee. All the others were clustered on other end. I thought they would be keeping her warm or closer to her. I released her and she crawled down between the frames where the cluster was with no problem. I remember a thread from this last week talking about virgin queens being responsible to feed themselves. If she is virgin, which by looking at her size it could be, wonder if that is what is going on?
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs27.postimg.cc%2Fqs9fyzlq7%2FDSCF1190.jpg&hash=d0dec0b7d1cf94cac91d33948fa56f9e89dc025a) (http://postimg.cc/image/qs9fyzlq7/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs27.postimg.cc%2Fnnys274xr%2FDSCF1191.jpg&hash=62d4d7e61184929567a6ae01c2a3de358925ce76) (http://postimg.cc/image/nnys274xr/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs27.postimg.cc%2F44u6su667%2FDSCF1193.jpg&hash=106d19bf5d6d60cd08adc0f04526a4d71ace7acc) (http://postimg.cc/image/44u6su667/)
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"I remember a thread from this last week talking about virgin queens being responsible to feed themselves. If she is virgin, which by looking at her size it could be, wonder if that is what is going on?
Hu! there's and interesting tip ~
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nice video dave!
she is a virgin, so therefore 'unrecognized' as royalty to the bees until she mates.
a little info on afterswarms, from mark winston biology of the honey bee:
"New virgin queens begin to emerge about a week after the prime swarm issues, although queen emergence is variable depending on the timing of prime swarming relative to cell sealing.
Once virgin queens mate, colonies either produce afterswarms or kill all but the one remaining queen which will mate and reign over the nest. In the most typical scenario the first virgin queen to mature issues with an afterswarm 2-4 days after her emergence, and often a second afterswarm issues a few days later with the next queen to emerge. Anywhere from 0 to 4 afterswarms can issue from nests with means between 1 and 2 afterswarms per colony recorded for temperate evolved bee races. The worker population in swarms generally decreases with swarm number; in one study prime swarms and first and second afterswarms had means of 16,000, 11,500, and 4,000 workers, respectively. Third and fourth afterswarms frequently contain only a handful of workers. Swarms can be much larger of smaller than these values......There is a strong correlation between the area of sealed brood when the prime swarm issues and the number of afterswarms. Thus, colonies regulate the extent of their afterswarming according to the number of workers required to remain in the original colony.
Afterswarms are similar in most respects to prime swarms, except that virgin queens participate rather than mated queens. Although only one virgin queen usually issues with an afterswarm, other mature queens from cells sometimes escape during the chaotic period when afterswarms issue and afterswarms can contain up to three queens. Workers in afterswarms do not engorge as fully as in prime swarms and fewer young workers issue with afterswarms."
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Thanks River, very interesting. So, 4 days is considered within the normal range for afterswarms....after all..... ;D
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Thanks friends!
Just received a call that would have been Swarm #10.... PD called me to advise a large swarm was hanging on a swing at a local farm store in town. I called the store only to find out a young male employee sprayed the swarm about ten minutes prior! Killed a large portion of them. She asked me what they could do because the rest of them were flying around the entrance of the store. I told her I couldn't help her with that one. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! WHY IS IT FOLKS FIRST REACTION TO KILL THEM! (https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sherv.net%2Fcm%2Femo%2Fangry%2Fred-angry-face-smiley-emoticon.gif&hash=63a85f45868f75840e4c6e2bf889ea5ff46c9eac) (http://www.sherv.net/)
:'(
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cuz that's what they do dave.....
hmmm, fear, ignorance, etc......
you just do your best to educate them about what they have done, killing honey bees.....and you probably did.....
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heh.. I would have told her she needed to lock the doors and keep people away from the area for about three days because insect spray makes the bees it doesnt kill VERY angry.. Angry on the scale of AHB / killer bees.. and if anyone dies whoever sprayed them may be liable to face the charges.......... MUAHAHAHAHAHA
I am with you Blue. I get REALLY annoyed at people when they spray bees. I refuse to have anything to do with them after being sprayed.. If I was told they were not sprayed, and find they were when I start a cut out.. I pack up and walk away.
My luck finally changed today.. but I will post about it in another thread later this evening.
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Thanks Scott, River....check new a new thread for the end of the store.....
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will do dave.........
i held back really, on what i wanted to say...........doesn't matter what we say, expression of the anger we feel, but we sure can educate.....in various ways.... :D