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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Elizabeth Pratson <epratson AT gmail.com>
  • To: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [ocba] Swarm?
  • Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2015 17:33:24 -0400

I have a hive that I just treated with formic acid on Wednesday.  Today they seemed like they started to swarm - they were all flying around in that big tornado pattern, and there were thousands of them.  I suited up, and decided to take the treatments out to see if it would help.  I just happened to notice a queen on a leaf near the hive; she was by herself which was kinda odd.  I picked her up and put heron the front entrance of the hive.  I installed a deep with empty frames, hoping to give them more room.  I noticed that there was lots of honey, but did not see any eggs.  I also noticed a handful of supersedure cells, but they were all empty; they had been built, but no eggs had ever been laid in them.



I put the hive back together, and the girls settled down and went back in.  However I noticed a small cluster of bees on the ground in the front of the hive.  I picked them up and saw that there was a queen in the middle, and the cluster of bees were in the middle of stinging her.  She is now dead ):

It’s so weird, I’m still not sure what just happened.  I will watch them for a few days to see if they try to swarm again, and also make sure I have a laying queen in there in a few days.  I wanted to see if anyone else had any other suggestions.

Thanks so much OCBA!

Elizabeth Pratson


  • [ocba] Swarm?, Elizabeth Pratson, 09/19/2015

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