Robin Said:

> Biology books such as Mark Winston, Biology of the Honeybee, 1987 contain
> charts showing a  secondary peak of swarming in August/Sep. The causes
seem
> not to be clear as such swarms have no chance of survival in the wild.

Such swarms are consistent with strong fall nectar flows, like the
goldenrod/aster flow we see here in the Northeast U.S.  In fact, I just lost
such a swarm from a nuc two days ago. I have a couple of nucs  I hadn't
checked them for about 10-12 days, and when I got to them, one had swarmed.
I should have realized this would happen, since that nuc was very strong
going into a strong goldenrod flow and good, warm weather.  As a friend of
mine pointed out - it doesn't matter what the books say - a colony that's
crowded going into a strong flow can swarm any time of the year, regardless
of the fact that it can't survive.

FWIW - a beekeeper about 40 miles away just reported a 77 lb increase in one
hive over the past 14 days.  That's a strong fall flow!

Regards,

Todd.

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