Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => HONEYBEE REMOVAL => Topic started by: duck on April 29, 2012, 11:10:46 pm

Title: lil swarm or stragglers?
Post by: duck on April 29, 2012, 11:10:46 pm

wondering if these are the stragglers or am I now just starting to see the smaller swarms?  homeowner said they had been there for two weeks!  same numbers..

put down a nuc and they marched in a hurry to get to the syrup i had in there. lol

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a311/Ducksmasher/2012-04-29_19-13-26_984.jpg)

Title: Re: lil swarm or stragglers?
Post by: Kathyp on April 29, 2012, 11:45:39 pm

i'm guessing little swarm.  stranglers would not be so organized and i don't think they'd hang around for 2 weeks.  surprised a swarm would either.  might not have been the same swarms that the home owner saw.  could have been a couple of small/after swarms from the same local hive.  i have had the experience of multiple swarms from same hive,  heading for the same tree, etc. 

Title: Re: lil swarm or stragglers?
Post by: AllenF on April 30, 2012, 08:27:39 pm

I bet stranglers after the swarm.    They just got left behind.   

Title: Re: lil swarm or stragglers?
Post by: cdanderson on April 30, 2012, 09:25:59 pm

Wouldn't stragglers normally return to the original hive if it wasnt destroyed ?

Title: Re: lil swarm or stragglers?
Post by: AllenF on April 30, 2012, 09:28:05 pm

No.    I have seen them at the swarm location for 2 or 3 weeks after a swarm.    But their numbers do go down on time.