Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: skatesailor on October 21, 2012, 03:42:51 pm
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Reduced my hives down and set up for winter a couple of weeks ago. Everything looked good and settled. I was cleaning up the barnyard for a nice winter's nap today with winds gusting to 20 mph. Next thing I knew I was in a cloud of bees that were having a tough time holding the swarm together. Eventually a large softball sized swarm settled and was hived. I probably will do a pinch and combine this week but was wondering if anybody else has had this late of a swarm or an explanation. Goldenrod has been dead for about 2 weeks here.
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Make sure you do not have an empty hive somewhere.
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Checked all my hives and didn't see any abnormal behavior. That sized swarm wouldn't be so evident in a full hive so I probably missed it. In 50+ yrs of beekeeping though I never had this happen.
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Swarm in July, let them fly. What is a swarm in October worth?
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down here i have gotten swarms in november. i hive them and feed them. they do good down here but our winters are very mild.
bailey
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supersedure queen went on mating flight and a handful of workers got confused. we called the "pop up" swarms way back when.
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Very interesting that you have experienced the latest swarm in 50 yrs. Glad you shared that news.
Cheers,
Drew