swarm-list Mailing List: Fall swarms

[Gerald Przybylski (gtp000000]

    The season for REPRODUCTIVE swarms is long past.  
    Swarms we see now might be bees absconding from an impossible
    situation 
    due to ants 
    or disease 
    or something happened to their habitat. 
    (the last stage of a PMS dead-out is that the queen and a cup or two
    full of workers abscond) 
    
    So if you collect a fall swarm it's obvious that it will need to be
    put on drawn comb and fed, AND watched over for health issues.
    
    That's my 2¢
    
    In temperate climates, late season swarms, even if they are healthy
    reproductive swarms, 
    are up against a fall dearth, and oncoming winter.  
    In the wild they won't be able to make much comb, nor will they be
    able to store enough food for winter. 
    Perhaps an altruistic behavior where it reduces the parent hive
    population and promotes a new queen 
    for the parent hive to set them up to survive winter.  The swarm and
    the worn-out queen tank. 
    Just a thought.  (or maybe I read something like that.)
    
    That early vs late swarm adage applies to temperate climates.

On 9/21/24 1:10 PM, Nha Toi via swarm-list wrote:

Anyone needing free bees?  Or a queen for a failing hive?  This may be one of the last few swarms of the season.

It's Saturday so hopefully someone will make a claim.

On Sat, Sep 21, 2024 at 12:57 PM Nha Toi <2nha.toi [at] gmail.com> wrote:

About waist level, approx mini watermelon. 

Please include your phone number when claiming.