In article <[log in to unmask]>, Kathy E Cox
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>Can you tell me why a swarm would swarm a second time? Do I still
>stand a chance that they will swarm a third time?

Your post does not make it 100% clear if the whole swarm has gone off
again or if it has split into more than one unit.

Either way the explanation is PROBABLY the same.

Such a small size and the instability together generally imply that this
is a cast rather than a full swarm and will thus be  headed by one or
more virgin queens. Only this summer I caged and used 8 virgin queens
out of one swarm, and still it had at least one more to function with. (
My father and I together got 15 out of one a few years back)

Virgin headed swarms are notoriously difficult to get to settle, as they
can fly long distances and often already have some idea of where they
are headed, and resist our attempts to home them.

Multiple virgin swarms will often not be amenable to hiving until they
have hung around for a day or two and the queens have 'sorted each other
out' and only one remains.

All is greatly helped by hiving at dusk, and adding a bar of open brood.
Open brood generally (but not without exception) pins the virgin headed
swarm by enticing them to care for it. Overnight is generally long
enough for them to have adopted the brood and thus stay put. If you are
unsure of the queen status of a swarm a bar of brood can be a good
insurance against it absconding.

Casts and swarms headed by multiple virgins also sometimes split up into
smaller units rather than remain as a single unit. This may be because
two casts have emerged in close succession, mingled in flight and ended
up clustering together, then sorting themselves out once things settle
down.

All these weird anomalies do not happen in swarms headed by mated
queens, which are simple to handle.

--
Murray McGregor

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