In a newly captured swarm the bees are not flying, anywhere, or at all. They remain almost cluster-like in the nuc. IF, they come out of the nuc at all they form a tight beard and barely move. No fanning. No line dancing. Temps in the eighties & nineties.
The question is, What is happening and why?
Details:
*Swarm found in a swarm trap last Saturday 6/8/13. Trap is five medium old brood frames in one box. Solid bottom board.
*Bees likely entered trap several days earlier. Saw a larva yesterday in around the 4th instar.
*Bees/Trap relocated to apiary on Saturday night. Bees/swarm too large to fit in five frame nuc. Second Nuc box with five old brood frames added Sunday along with gallon of 1:1 syrup in top feeder.
*I believe the behavior in question was already occurring at the trap site. Did not recognize it as an issue at the time.
*All brood frames come from previous winter's dead-outs 2012/13. Some pollen and some honey but mostly empty.
*Good enough population to block view of comb/frame by the amount of bees on it. None of which seem to be doing Anything.
*Queen located & marked yesterday. Queen has laid approximately one frame worth of eggs.
*Bee poop is seemingly being removed from hive.
*Small amount of syrup is being stored on frames. No bees taking syrup when i look in the nuc yesterday.
*Amount of flying bees noticeable in a day can be counted on two hands at most.
*Main flow ended about two weeks ago.
*Lac of robing suggest there is no dearth currently.
*Again temps are typical for this time of year through rainfall is up with weekly rain days.
*Trap site twenty miles away from apiary.
This low level of activity is deeply inconsistent with the other hives in the apiary. The other hives are showing heavy activity (expected normal for this time of year); flying at sun up and continuing till past 8pm. These hives: One over wintered, two spring packages, & three spring splits, have been built up on the same dead-out frames. Though none of them but the Over wintered hive have a population as dense as this captured swarm.
Further questions:
Could too many bees sitting on too few eggs cause the lac of activity?
Could a poor/old/failing queen cause this lac of activity?
Thank you in advance.