Thanks Paul and Lynne. The way bees coordinate all these different activities
at (roughly) the right time is truly fascinating. I now have a mental image of
a personal trainer bee running a queen-slim-down boot camp! 🐝 🏋️♀️ 😊
On 2 May 2022, at 18:29, Oxnatbees <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, we know the bees don't read the books, so it's quite possible they went
before the queen cells were capped, or before they were ALL capped anyway, as
you say there may have been cells you couldn't see. Typically there are 8-10
queen cells, but it varies lot, with some reporting more, up to ~20, and some
only 5 or 6.
Sounds like the 4 days before aborted attempt was premature anyway, with a
bunch of enthusiastic young uns getting a bit overexcited.
But we do know that your bees, Juli, like to go 'early', I think they have
been the first reported swarm a couple of years in a row now in this group.
Perhaps it's just their way.
The Queen has to lay the eggs at her 'fertile' weight, then drop about 25% of
her body weight to be fit to fly. So it does take a few days after laying the
princesses The bees put her on a strict diet and exercise regime, they
reduce her feeding and start shaking and buffeting her to keep her moving
about.
The bees go I guess when they feel it's optimal, when their chances are good.
Perhaps they knew the weather was likely to change and so off they went
leaving some queen's uncapped
One thing about bees is, they know best, and they like to surprise you.
P&L
On Mon, 2 May 2022, 17:48 Juli Cohen, <juliane.cohen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
But our bees swarmed 2 days before the queen cells were capped (with an
attempt made 4 days before). Is it possible there are other queen cells that
I can’t see through the windows that were capped earlier? Does that ever
happen?
This is all really interesting. Thank you all for sharing your experiences.
Juli
On 2 May 2022, at 17:41, Helen Nunn <helenmaynunn@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all
I'll tell you what they do as well - choose the most inconvenient moment to
swarm. This afternoon we had a skype call planned with our son in Nairobi,
then unexpected visitors came so I put on the kettle for tea, and that's
when the call came that there was a swarm on our allotment. Another
beekeeper was going home for his kit, so we politely did the tea party and
cancelled the skype call, then off up the road - and the swarm had gone!
But oddly enough there were about four small groups of bees left clustering
- on various posts inside someone's newly constructed fruit cage. (I'm
quite glad they disappeared as it would have been a tricky catch.) The
other beekeeper thought they must be from our hives, as he's just starting
up and has only a nucleus brought three weeks ago.
Only the bees know.
Helen
On Mon, 2 May 2022 at 14:40, Barbara Elizabeth Robinson
<liz20swan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all. So I am just trying to explain about swarming to someone good at
asking tricky questions!
I understand that the old queen is not fed for 3 days prior to swarming to
enable her to be light enough to fly. How do the bees know that in 3 days
time the weather will suit swarming? So my bees swarmed on Saturday which
was perfect swarm weather. Are the bees that good that they predicted the
fine weather 3 days hence? Would they have swarmed if it was cold and wet?
I think not.
Any help would be appreciated.
Liz.
