r/Beekeeping•
Bvan72

Strange swarm catch behavior

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question

I would post a vid but reddit wont let me do that or even a pic.

Anyways ive caught 3 swarms in my traps this week, got to see 2 of them arrive but something is currently going on with one. This swarm came in Friday, I watched them come in, was about 1.5 footballs worth of bees i estimate.

All seemed normal to about an hour ago i noticed a traffic jam of bees arriving, and looking up bees in the air darting around like a mini swarm. They are not leaving but creating a traffic jam with a couple of bees fanning their nasinov glands on landing board and also running around all over the front of the hive with hyper excited movement.

What the heck? I know africanized bees will take over colonies but we dont have them here. Its not robbing. I know what it looks like but it doesnt make sense to me. Any ideas?

Posted May 10, 2026, 10:01 PM UTC

26
Loading comments…