Author Topic: late swarm reruns?  (Read 1654 times)

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Offline rober

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late swarm reruns?
« on: August 29, 2016, 03:56:27 pm »
last year I had several call in September & October. the past few days I've had 3 swarm calls that were actual swarms. this morning I went to check the nuc I started from the cut-out I did last week & spotted what looked to be a swarm in one of my peach trees. I suspected & was correct in that it was the cut-out. turns out beetles & moths got thick enough that they absconded. I caught them & combined them with a queen-less nuc. the worst part was the critters ruined 3 frames of brood.

Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: late swarm reruns?
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2016, 08:19:18 am »
I hope that isn't the case, rober.  Last year I had one of my colonies swarm Labor Day weekend.  I have one colony that is so full of bees right now that I am debating on adding a 3rd super.  If anyone has any better ideas I would welcome them.

We got a call from a neighbor last Saturday.  He said he had a swarm of bees under his porch.  After work I went over to see.  The bees had set up house underneath the floor boards of his deck. (I hope that's where they are) We couldn't see where the nest was.  I offered my help in removing deck boards and suggested removal asap.  I feel like the swarm could have originated from my hives, although I haven't seen any evidence of that.  There are feral colonies around. He declined.  His wife has Parkinson's disease and the bees are creating a problem when they try to come and go in the car.

Offline rober

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Re: late swarm reruns?
« Reply #2 on: August 30, 2016, 12:58:12 pm »
last fall I caught 1 & passed on 3 swarms 2 of my strongest hives absconded. I thought at the time the 'swarm' calls were actually hives that had absconded.