On 12/18/2011 3:37 PM, J. Waggle wrote: > Mike, if the nuc was too hot, there must have > been a number of bees clustered on the > outside of the hive. Of course there were, with wax being deposited on the outside of the box. > In these absconding nucs, > have you noticed dancing on the surface of > these clustered bees near the entrance prior to > an absconding? No, I didn't notice any dancing on the beard. Didn't look. > > The type of absconding you are describing where > the bees leave the colony directly to their destination, > best fits the absconding described previously as; > 'prepared absconding', which may eliminate the need > to swarm, organize and form bivouac. > I really can't say if they were flying off to their new location or they were just bailing out. I did catch one in mid-abscond. Grabbed the queen as she exited, caged her, and put her back into the hive. The bees eventually returned but not while I was there finishing the yard. I came back the next day and the cluster had come back to their nuc box. Mike *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm