witnessed a mating swarm

[Neonach]

With no other honeybees in this group of islands let alone locally, I suppose the only place for the bees to congregate for mating is right here in my own apiary. Indeed I have seen what probably was such an event, last year and the year before, but on each occasion I was otherwise occupied and didn't have the time to observe the detail - a great pity. I currently have two queenless colonies each with multiple queen cells (either grafted in or on frames removed from a donor hive) due to emerge this week. The two hives are at opposite corners of the garden - about 60m apart - so by now I'm hoping that each is aware of the other's presence and state! If the good summer weather continues - warm(ish) and relatively still - then it could be soon. But the weather here in the islands is rarely so calm for long - we're much further west than Jon is in Belfast, and on the SW point of the islands exposed to the Atlantic - so they'd better get on with it, especially if (if successful) the new growing colonies are to make the most of the upcoming heather season.

[Mellifera Crofter]

I saw two more mating swarms over my apiary today. One settled in the bracken at the edge of the railway line beside my allotment but I found the empty apidea and tipped the little cluster into it. ...

Jon, when a mating swarm settles somewhere outside the hive, does it mean the queen has mated by then, or is she just taking a rest before continuing with her mating flight? Also, will such a swarm return to their original hive, or might they fly off and find a new home? Would it be a huge mistake if I unwittingly moved a mating swarm into a new hive? Is it possible to distinguish between a mating swarm and a cast swarm?
Kitta

[Jon]

Hi Kitta
In my experience the queen has mated as I usually find eggs in the apidea a few days later.
When the queen takes orientation, ie , non mating flights, she flies on her own. I have seen queens coming and going from apideas on maybe a dozen or more occasions. I remember I saw one queen fly twice on the same day.

What I am talking about is the contents of an apidea, ie just a couple of hundred bees so smaller than your average cast, although I have seen casts which are no more than a few hundred bees and a virgin queen. the cluster with the queen in it is about the size of an biggish apple and would not be viable outside of an apidea.

My theory is that a mating swarm under normal conditions has a fixed number of bees, maybe a couple of thousand and as this is greater than the contents of an apidea it leads to the apidea being completely emptied. Assuming this happens when a queen flies from a full colony it would not be noticeable with a colony population of maybe 40,000.

This is the size of the cluster.



If I find a cluster like this I look for the empty apidea and bring it over.



Sorry about the quality. I am getting a new camera this week after being shamed into it by Adam.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Thanks Jon. I look forward to seeing pictures or video clips taken with your new camera.
Kitta

[gavin]

Jon'll be needing that new camera for the illustrations for the book he's writing ...

My theory is that a ....

I can't read such words without reaching for YouTube.

[gavin]

Oh dear ... I've spoiled the flow! One man might be able to comment on this. He'll be in Scotland for the SBA Centenary next year I believe.

http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/series/5/

I wonder if there is a continuum of behaviour from cast to mating swarm to full absconding. Casts go because 'It's not right in here, there are queens piping in here so we ought to leave' *and* the attraction of flying off with a virgin is strong, mating swarms just have the latter, and absconding is just the decision that it's not right in here and we have to go.

[gavin]

I suspect that it acts like a swarm from this point.

Have you watched these mating swarms to see if there is dancing going on?

[Jon]

Haven't looked for dancing but I have at least got a better camera so will start recording more and peruse the recordings at my leisure.

You can now identify individual bees. Don't mind the ones with yellow bands. I took a couple of frames of brood from another colony to bolster this one.



And yes, my theory is that a swarm is thin at both ends and fat in the middle, ehem.

[gavin]

Your next project? Apidea-cam! One inside, one outside. Do they do buzz-runs and piping signals before the mating swarm exits? Some other unique communication?

[Jon]

I just checked the apidea which I tipped the cluster of bees into on Sunday and it has eggs in it - so that confirms that it was definitely a mating swarm rather than some other type of swarm.
Also interesting that she starts to lay within 48 hours as some folk think it takes longer than that.

eggs-48-hours-after-mating-swarm.jpg