Two Bee or Not Two bee

[jwcarlson]

Those are the leftovers, Al. Occasionally it can take awhile, but I would say that this is the outside of normal. So there are a lot of ways that a swarm finishes it's journey. A queen could die or fail to be able to fly. This would typically end up on the ground very very near the parent colony. The bees would eventually move home but maybe a baseball's worth of bees would stay surrounding the unviable queen. So I don't think that's the issue here.

An "average" swarm leaves and bivouacs fairly near the parent colony, hanging out on a branch or something like that until the scouts find a new site. There's probably hundreds of scouts at any given time and if the swarm reaches a consensus on where they're heading... they aren't waiting until everyone is back. So those bees that are out-and-about come back and find no one there so they might hang around for awhile because the queen's pheromones will linger. But because they're close to their mother colony they will eventually drift back and re-join the colony they came from.

Swarms can cover many miles, however. And a queen cannot constantly fly for that length of time most likely, so they will take a rest. So if they locate a new home and they're far from their parent colony, those leftover bees probably are not going to head home. Occasionally some might find another colony nearby and show up with a crop full of nectar and beg their way in. But bees' roles within the colony are based on their age and bees that are not of foraging age (which is late in the bees' life) aren't going to suddenly start doing a different job. Bees can be forced into roles that they are not suited for (because there are also physiological changes), but that can only really happen inside of a colony and is driven by pheromones emitted by the queen, the brood, the other bees, etc etc.

It does kind of stink that they're just slowly dying off. There's not enough bees there to accomplish anything. If they're bothering you, you can kill them by spraying them with water and dish soap in a spray bottle. It will cover their spiracles and suffocate them. Brake cleaner also works, but probably isn't great to breathe. Because you're a breeder of fish, snakes, etc... you probably understand the realities of life and death. However, if it makes you feel any better. Honey bees only live for MAYBE six weeks this time of year and their death is nearly always when their wings wear out to the point that they cannot fly back home. Then they become bird food or food for bugs, etc.

[brewmaster15]

Gotcha thanks Jacob.. kind of what I figured.

Al