Peter wrote:

>3.20pm, over the field came another swarm, but this time it clustered
>about 150 metres short of the fore mentioned hive bodies, in a
>blackthorn hedge - heavily spiked and just right to poke into sensitive
>places.
>Any ideas why such swarms seem to not to finish their journey.

It is always fun to speculate although even an on the spot observer cannot
know all the factors influencing bee behaviour.

I believe, without being able to cite any authorative reference, that it is
common for swarms to break their journey by reforming the swarm cluster,
perhaps to enable the scout bees to transmit directions as they near the
selected site.  I have collected a swarm that had been hanging in bushes for
a number of hours with scout bees indicating interest in a wall vent of the
house.  On that occasion, the bees all settled happily in the box
immediately and the scouts presumably returned and rejoined the swarm.

On another occasion a neighbour called me as there was a swarm in a bush
across the road from my house.  Scout bees were doing their thing displaying
interest in cardboard cartons that had held old frames on my verandah.
However I hived the swarm and left it to settle.  Half an hour later my
neighbour decided to mow the grass verge and puttered up and down with a
petrol mower for 30 minutes.  Immediately he had stopped, the swarm left the
box and moved the 50 yards to the cardboard cartons in my verandah,
presumably having rejected the interim location as unsuitable.  Whether they
would have done this without the intervention of petrol fumes I do not know.

Perhaps precise directions are difficult where there is considerable
distance to navigate and swarms may have to cluster to receive new directions.

I see in another post that at least one French beekeeper still believes in
banging metal lids together to persuade a swarm to settle.  This is also bee
folklore in Australia but I believe this been demonstrated to be a fallacy
and certainly conversations amongst beekeepers indicate it is not known to
be effective.


Betty McAdam
HOG BAY APIARY
Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island
J.H. & E. McAdam<[log in to unmask]
http://kigateway.kin.on.net/hogbay/hogbay1.htm

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