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Laurieston
House Bee
Joined: 12 Apr 2013
Posts: 16
Location: Northern Germany
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 Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:22 pm Post subject: Where did my bees go? Can't have swarmed? |
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My HTB has been going well all year, has been completely full for months now. However, when I peeped through the window last week I saw several empty frames. This looked just like when the swarmed earlier in the year. Further inspection revealed, however, that there were no sealed Queen cells, a reasonable amount of fresh eggs and variously aged brood. I did not see the Queen, but as she is unmarked I rarely do.
My question, concern, is where did they go?
And a friend called, his HTB has also emptied, except much more dramatically, taking almost all the bees, leaving no honey or pollen and no brood or Queen cells.
Can they have swarmed? Surely it is way too late for such behaviour.
Any ideas, thanks. |
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zaunreiter
Moderator Bee
Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 3097
Location: Germany, NorthWest
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 8:50 pm Post subject: Re: Where did my bees go? Can't have swarmed? |
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| Laurieston wrote: | | ...that there were no sealed Queen cells, a reasonable amount of fresh eggs and variously aged brood. |
Sounds like they superseded the old queen. A common sight this autumn, for whatever reasons.
| Laurieston wrote: | | ...And a friend called, his HTB has also emptied, except much more dramatically, taking almost all the bees, leaving no honey or pollen and no brood or Queen cells. |
Hive was robbed => lost queen => continued robbing => bees hopeless and moved into neighbouring hives. |
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Conserving wild bees
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