It’s war! Two swarms in one hive…

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I have two Flow hives and two Layens hives that I built. I am not totally hands off but perhaps could be called a Low Interference beekeeper. I treat and feed. this is my fourth year, and I take the household honey from the Flow hives, and leave the Layens, although I think I might get some honey from them this year.

I had one swarm from one of the flow hive and it sat in the tree for 8 days. I have swarm traps out, with swarm commander. I had one empty Layens hive. The traps got some interest, but the Layens didn’t really seem to be interesting .

So I moved the Layens close to the swarm to see if they would accept it yesterday evening.

This midmorning the same flow hive swarmed again and went straight into the Layens. No stopping to catch their breath, or clustering. The first swarm just sat in the tree. The Layens was literally under their branch.

A couple of hours later, when the second swarm was pretty much all in the Layens, the first swarm suddenly changed their mind and headed for the Layens. Now two swarms want the same box.

The first swarm, the homeless ones, seem to have just clustered on the outside of the Layens and are just sitting there. I don’t see anything that might be called fighting, but what do I know.

Of the three entrances, two are open, the second one is not being used. It is open but ignored. The first one seems to be stopped up with bees. I don’t think anyone is getting in or out.

I don’t really want any more bees. I will get in and destroy any other queen cells in all the other hives.

Should I attempt any intervention? Will they sort themselves out?

I live in a rural area with patches of forest, farmland, and many 300 year old beech trees that look like they would have cavities. Only a few cottages dotted around.

Thanks.

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So now, there is more activity from the original hive…

Could they all be moving???

The Layens box is much bigger than the 8 frame Flow box(es) they seem to be leaving.

Inquiring minds want to know…

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What an incredible situation to witness.
What most likely happened is that your second swarm issued with a virgin queen and immediately accepted the Layens hive as a suitable new home. Once they settled and began fanning pheromones at the entrance, the original swarm in the tree may have detected those signals and reconsidered their own choice.
The clustering on the outside without obvious fighting is actually a fairly positive sign.
At this stage, unless you see obvious fighting or large piles of dead bees, we would generally suggest minimal intervention for 24–48 hours. Bees are often better at sorting swarm logistics than we are.
Please keep us updated on what they decide to do.

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Update.

After a few hours I found someone to come and get the swarm that was on the outside of the box (first swarm). I assumed I still had the second swarm in the box.

However after the first swarm was cleared and gone to a new home, I looked into the box. No bees! Why they both decided to hang out on the outside of the box I’ll never know. It was about to get rainy.

Looks like the person who came to get the first swarm actually got both!

He got two new colonies, and I’m back to where I started. He seemed worried that he might have two queens. I told him the would fight it out if he left them alone. But I bet he goes in to try to find both and then split the colony.

Yesterday I also got in and destroyed any other swarm cells in my hives. Although the original hive was the only one who had any.

Every year something amazing happens. Even if I did get my household honey I would keep bees as they are such interesting people.

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Thank you so much for the update!
One thing to keep in mind: after two swarms, the original hive may now be quite depleted in population. It may be worth checking in about a week for, signs of a viable queen, and whether the colony still has enough workforce to recover properly.

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I did go in yesterday and although I couldn’t find the queen, (I’m not very good at spotting unmarked queens…) there were still lots of bees in the hive. And they weren’t too happy that I was “visiting”!

Bees are so fascinating. It’s a great hobby!

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