Tualatin Valley Beekeepers Association - New Beekeeper, New Swarm, pictures and questions

15 Apr 2020 1:14 PM

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Message # 8902096

Deleted user

Hello friends,

Short story first: Last Friday, my wife and I were walking around in our neighborhood and stumbled upon a swarm ~20 feet up in an evergreen tree. Using our newly acquired equipment and knowledge, we called up my father for some help. After ~5 hours of patiently coaxing the bee's which involved: singing to them (doesn't work, but helped pass the time), cutting off the branch they were on and catching it in a swarm catch box (the queen stayed up in the tree, but it did help get the bees to notice the swarm box), and eventually shaking the branch, they all moved into the swarm catch box. Therefor I shall refer to them as the "Good Friday Bee Swarm" (GFBS).

Now as a new beekeeper, I know I will get a variety of opinions, even from the same source, so I am opening myself up to a plethora of responses...but I was hoping to help answer some questions about the GFBS now that I have homed them in a hive.

The swam was somewhat small, as identified by others. So I am attempting to baby them by feeding them 1:1 sugar syrup from a top feeder.

I have taken some pictures to share in help identifying some elements. [I am also recording our adventures with video for sharing at a later date.]

Link to Google Drive photos - may not persist as is, so if you do respond about the pictures, please identify the name of the picture referenced- I also attached two photos to the post.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TOWt6yB-nXI4tr1aCUSvtqXBlT9HwbvJ?usp=sharing

1. Did I get a picture of a mite on the back of a bee? "Wings and Mite" picture - If not, i couldn't find a good resource in my books or online that identifies what that part of the bee is called, sometimes it was identified as "air sacs" but I am not sure. What is it? In some of my photos, they either black or reddish brown.

2. Identification of the bees? In "BeeContrast" it looks like they are all Apis Mellifera, but why are some much blacker than others - still same size - see pictures. It almost looks like some are a cross with Apis Mellifera Merllifera?

Bee Seeing you ;)

Geoffrey

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Moved from General Bee Topics: 8 Feb 2021 11:34 AM

16 Apr 2020 9:51 AM

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Reply # 8904248 on 8902096

Anonymous member

Geoffrey, the picture of a mite, certainly looks like a mite. Most likely, there are more mites in your swarm. Now--or at least before your swarm produces capped brood--would be a good time to treat for mites with Oxalic acid vapor.

As for the different color worker bees in the swarm, this is caused by genetic diversity. When a virgin queen goes out on her mating flight, she mates with multiple drones. (As many as fifteen, maybe more.) She stores the sperm from these multiple drones in her spermatheca. (My understanding is that all the sperm the queen is inseminated with mixes in one big mixture in the spermatheca.) One sperm fertilizes one egg to produce a worker. Drawn at random. (Drones are the result of unfertilized eggs.) The sperm caries the genetic characteristics of the drone that produced it. So if there's a lot of variety in the drone population, you will see it in the workers produced.

17 Apr 2020 11:25 PM

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Reply # 8907174 on 8902096

Deleted user

Thanks.

A mixed feelings update, so bad news first, the queen departed or never made to the box, no brood and no queen upon inspection.

The neighbor reported another smaller swarm in a different tree, but it wasn't his property so he didn't tell me about it. Lesson learned.

Fortune favors though and it was replaced, with assistance from another beekeeper's swarm, within hours of learning I didn't have a queen.

Tomorrow should be a good day with the nucs coming!

Geoffrey

18 Apr 2020 1:51 PM

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Reply # 8908108 on 8902096

Anonymous

Where did you put the warm? In a nuc or hive? Is there any drawn frames to use, if so do that. You might want to check for brood at day 14 and again on 21 if none seen on day 14. If it was a small swarm, it may be a secondary swarm with a virgin queen. She will need to mate in the next 1-2 weeks from the swarm. It was warm enough this last week for matting flights.

If the bee are staying put, there is a good chance there is a queen. If no brood by 21 days from GF, there is likely no queen, you could combine the bees with another hive in that case.

18 Apr 2020 1:58 PM

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Reply # 8908113 on 8902096

Anonymous

Follow up to Ted's post. If there is not brood and mite present oxalic acid is the best treatment. However if you are a new beekeeper, I would recommend the oxalic acid dribble, rather than the vapor because it requires special equipment and dangerous if not done correctly. See Honeybee Health Coalition for video on using OA.