The Perfect Swarm
After the last post, I realized that all three of my hives were robbed out and completely empty. I was very discouraged and felt like a total beekeeping failure. It was too late to start over this season and it wouldn't make much difference, I thought. Obviously there are a lot of bees nearby that were robbing my hives. Because it is a good year for forage, the fact that all three hives got completely robbed out indicates a large population of bees nearby. Just a few hives from other hobby beekeepers would not feel the need to rob hives when there is plenty of forage available. I got so desperate I sent a plea via email to the commercial beekeeper I am sure has bees nearby begging him to move them. I received no response, but hopefully my message was received. On July 19, 2024 I took my push mower over to the hives and mowed all around them. There was no activity at all, not even yellow jackets. Maybe a few flies, that was all. Yesterday, July 22, 2024, two of my daughters noticed bee activity on my long blue hive. Both thought it looked purposeful. I knew there was nothing to rob, so I suspected, or should I say hoped, a swarm had moved in. Today I put on my bee suit and took a look. The bees definitely looked purposeful. They were not bringing in pollen, but were flying in and out like bees that lived there. When I opened the lid, there were indications the hive had sat empty for a period of time. There was the remains of a mouse nest on the back inner cover and an active wax moth nest on the front inner cover. I removed both. But, through the inner cover hole on the front third, I saw normal bee activity. The picture above is what I found when I opened the front inner cover. I removed the fourth frame from the front and found it covered with bees that seemed to be storing nectar. I couldn't tell if there were any eggs in that frame. I set it carefully on the hive and pulled out the third frame from the entrance. Sure, enough, there she was, a nice, fat queen moving around the frame. I carefully replaced both frames and closed up the hive. I assume this is a gift from the commercial beekeeper who has hives nearby. Since they came from there (I assume), maybe they will not get robbed out, we will see. I will say this is the first time a swarm has actually just moved into one of my empty hives. But it was perfectly cleaned out by the robbers, so it must have appealed to them.
Here is the wax moth nest I removed from the front inner cover. Wax moths are quick to move into an empty hive, but contrary to what beekeepers used to think, do not move into an active, healthy hive. This is proof to me that this hive was indeed empty for a period of time and that the bees occupying it now are a new swarm, not some remnant that somehow survived.
Well, I will try to keep this updated on the progress of the swarm. The bees are calm and are a good size, not too many, like my last swarm, but not so few that they can't build up quickly. The queen looked good and healthy, so hopefully will get down to the business of laying. The bees were already storing nectar. There may not be enough excess for me this year, but there is hope for another season for me now.
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