I had several large, late season swarms that are uncommon in Ohio. Two of the colonies did not successfully requeen. I am uncertain what this late season biology means for the bees and their colony survival. Any thoughts?
jtew
I had several large, late season swarms that are uncommon in Ohio. Two of the colonies did not successfully requeen. I am uncertain what this late season biology means for the bees and their colony survival. Any thoughts?
jtew
December 2017
I had a swarm take up occupation in a stack of unused hive boxes in mid to late October (Location: 1/2 way between Montgomery and Mobile, AL). They did well and started brood production and I fed them and checked on them periodically. Suddenly in late December I found two queen cells and no evidence of lately laid brood (less than a week old). Of course it’s going to become a failed colony. But, I found it interesting that for some reason the old queen just suddenly disappeared. I had seen her on the previous inspection and made certain that she was safely located in the colony when I closed it up. I have no idea what caused her demise/disappearance.