Got two swarm calls yesterday. First one was the usual kind, hanging low in a spruce tree. The second was kinda odd, cluster of bees laying on the ground. At first I thought they were hanging on a dead branch, and they fell to the ground after it broke. But as I was watching them run into the box, I saw the queen and snapped
a pic. When you look close at her, her wings are wore down bad. I don’t think she could fly… came out of a nearby bee tree and fell to ground.

First swarm



Second swarm



Queen. Look at wings

Hopefully that cluster in the spruce was "low hanging fruit". Looks like a very easy one to transfer to a box.

Cool post. Ya figure that queen is on her way out brownie, or can those wings heal? Is it possible to add a different queen if that one dies?

Very cool! I think when a queen dies they just make a new one, but I don't know for sure.

I got both swarms.

I believe if I hadn’t got the ones on the ground, those bees were doomed. I don’t think the queen could get airborne. Now that she’s hived, she can lay eggs. I’m guessing she’ll be replaced soon.

That’s awesome!

Probably half of all swarms I put up end up replacing the queen once they get established good. I rarely see one last the following summer. I mark all queens, swarm queens I mark grey as an unknown year though they are all at least a year old.

That ground queen could be on her second, third or longshot fourth swarm flight.

She looked like one of those B-17 bombers that got shot up by a Luftwaffer fighter and limped back to England.

I like old queens. I think we should be breeding for longevity aka durability. To many queens these days are duds by the second year or are constantly being replaced and we've gotten locked into annual requeening as a result.

Does the swarm kill her or expel her from the hive when replaced?

Yes, but sometimes not immediately as commonly thought. I've seen mama and daughter in the same colony. It's as if they wait until daughter proves herself before pulling the trigger. I always say that bees know to hedge their bets.

And sometimes they get caught in a feedback loop. Had one colony that requeened itself six times in one season.

Very nice.

You off work already?

Lucky you!!!!!