Swarming

August 18, 2010 in Articles

I thought Id write a quick article regarding swarming, in particular some signs to look out for which may denote that your hive is about to or will soon swarm.

1. Queen Cups
One of the most obvious swarming behaviours is the building of queen cells. These cells normally reside on the edge of frames but they can appear almost anywhere. To prevent swarming remove these queen cells, unless you require to superseed etc. See the picture on the right:

2. Queing and Overcrowding
If the hive entrance is fully open (i.e. no mouse guards etc) and bees are queing or you notice a lot of bees gathered around the hive entrance this could be a pre-cursor to swarming. If a lot of bees exit the hive and cluster around the entrance when you approach it, this too could be a sign the bees lack a bit of space. Add more space by adding another brood box and/or super.

3. Large Cluster Bottom
If you look through the hive entrance and the bottom of the bee cluster fills the hive width then they are lacking space and will probably be looking to swarm. Add more space by adding another brood box and/or super.

4. No Laying Room
If the brood frames are all full of brood and honey stores then the hive could look to start swarming. Add another broodbox and frames to help prevent this.

Swarming is most likely to occur between the beginning of June to the end of August. Bit late me writing this now really but hey Ive been busy!!

The Dutiful Beekeeper

May 3, 2010 in Articles

Well June will soon be upon us and the dutiful beekeeper will be checking their hive(s) in a 7 day cycle. Why? Well the early summer honey should be due for removal before the first week in June.

Honey left where it is and the bees left to their own devices will result in (if the early summer bloom has been good) bees gradually taking back the honey ready to swarm. The bees will take the stored honey ready to feed the swarm for the three to five days it takes to relocate and get settled. If the honey is removed the bees do not have this option and you will gain a larger early harvest.

If the early bloom is not so good it simpy take longer for the above process to happen. They probably will still swarm but the honey extracted for the process will be over a longer period. Also the bees will be producing more brood to replace the innevitable swarm later in the Summer, which could result in Queen fatigue or congestion, plus the bees wont have much to do because of the lack of forage!!

Not sure if your bees are going to swarm? Well if they are short of space (lebensraum) they will swarm!! Is the brood box rammed full of bees (another delay tactic would be to add another super for brood)? Are there queens cells or even other queens? If yes a swarm is imminent.

One of the best solutions and certainly the easiest is to remove the early honey harvest (sealed honey) at the end of May and create a couple of “mini” swarms with the bees which would otherwise have not much to do. So give these new nuclei a couple of frames of eggs and open brood and remove to another locale. Feed all the hives well with 1 part sugar to 2 parts water syrup.

Now you have a queen right colony and perhaps two “mini” colonies with the right tools to re-queen start anew!! Awesome!

The other good thing about this whole process is the opportunity to treat Varroa and look out for EFB and AFB!!

Tags: Articles, Fould Brood, Harvesting honey, Honey, Swarming, Varroa 2 Comments »