"It may be more accurate to call them "usurpation swarms"--in which the old queen and a group of workers usurps an established colony already prepared for winter. This would be highly adaptive genetically, and is a trait exhibited by ancestral Apis mellifera, as well as documented by Dr Wyat Mangum, and observed by me and others in non-Africanized bees."

Such an ideal situation is not typical for most fall colonies in the northeastern United States.  Here, we have colonies headed by one queen, and that queen will be the one to carry her colony through the winter.  If she is "usurped" her colony will suffer...meaning they will DIE, because their resources are compromised.

No offense intended to those who have bees that overwinter in milder climates.

Christina


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