Yes I look inside and it looked full and healthy, but I did not check for queens for two reasons…did not think about it and not sure what to look for. I live in a small town without a club so I rely on this forum and Google for info. I will check then in a few days.
What is the difference between swarming and absconding.
Thanks to all!
Hi Olivier, I hope someone else will help with answering this question, but I thought it was (edit: absconding) when all the bees leave the hive. In other words, no bees at all are left behind. The critical thing I think for you now is whether you have a colony in the new box (queen and workers etc) and a colony in the old box. You definitely have one in the old box from what you have said. I would have thought if you see bees coming and going from the new box too, you had a swarm and you probably managed to get the old queen in the new box. If that new box is empty however, it was probably not a swarm- although they could have absconded from the new box too I suppose, when you weren’t looking. I think a swarm/colony absconding from a new box is more likely.
edit: just in case you didn’t know (ignore if you do) if you do find that you have a colony in the new box, you will have trouble moving it to the location of the other two hives as it is 200m away. The foraging bees will return to the new spot under the tree.
So Brilliant for the video!!! Thanks a lot!
Cannot believe I did it back to front!?..so the bees enter from the front and enter from the back? I will need to reposition the hives for more access…OR can I increase the tilt and then continue as I do now?
Bees abscond because something is killing the colony. They all go leaving any brood behind. Swarming is reproduction
With swarming, the bees make loads of swarm queen cells before they leave. They are making plans to swarm for over a week before they launch. They are usually doing it because they are short of space and high on numbers. About 50-60% of the hive leaves with the first swarm. The colony can often recover from the first swarm, and may prepare further swarms after the first has left.
With absconding, they are doing it because they are unhappy with the current hive site. They don’t usually make queen cells, and the vast majority of the hive will leave at once, and they do it soon after the upset that made them not like the hive (usually less than a week). If enough bees stay behind, and there are still young enough eggs/larvae, they may make emergency queen cells, but often that hive is abandoned and will demise within a few weeks.
Not quite sure what you mean, but where there is a ledge sticking out at the bottom of the hive, that is the entrance, and is usually considered the “front” of the hive by beekeepers. The bees enter and leave through the same entrance.
If you want to continue as you are doing now, when harvesting, you will need to put a ~4cm tall block under the back of the hive, so that the hive has a 2.5 to 5 degree slope downwards towards the Flow tube. Many cell phone apps are available which can measure tilt angle for you, and they are free.
Thanks Dee. So if 30% returned to the hive and the 70% seem happy to be in a new location? I will return on Monday afternoon to inspect the brood box of the ‘old’ hive. Thanks for all the help.
Thanks for taking the time with so much detail. You’ve explained it very well. I’ll keep my eyes on all three more carefully and revert next week…still cannot be.eive I was able to get the Super and Brood boxes back to front.