Using a Swarm Box : 15 Setting up a swarm box
queen cells without being suffocated. It has a removable, screened cover with extra ventilation provided at the sides and bottom.
The Bees
Young house bees feed larvae3. It follows we should look for worker bees on combs of unsealed brood where young larvae are being fed. It also goes, without saying, that the bees used must not be suffering unduly from any infections or disease.
A colony can be built up until it has a minimum of 15 British Standard (BS) frames of brood in a double box. More is better. On a chosen day, preferably with some assistance, the hive is opened. If the queen is found she can be set aside safely. The frames are divided between two deep brood boxes. The bottom box, on the floor, should contain frames of sealed brood, some stores and empty drawn comb to fill up the box. Next comes a queen excluder, followed by a second brood box. All the bees from the
remaining frames, containing mainly eggs and young larvae, are shaken in front of the entrance so the bees, and the queen if she has not been
April 2015 Vol 97 No 4
found, can join the bees in the bottom box. The frames, free of bees, can then be placed in the top box. Do not forget to return the queen to the bottom box if she was found earlier. On the following day, the nurse bees will have come through the queen excluder and be in the top box looking after the unsealed brood. This is a way I can obtain worker bees, without drones or the queen.
Stocking the Swarm Box
Frames containing mainly pollen and open stores are arranged in the empty swarm box as shown. Full-depth dummy frames are placed at the sides to crowd the bees into the middle of the box. A gap is left in the centre for the half-sized dummy with the grafted cells which will be inserted some hours later. With the swarm box (entrance closed) positioned adjacent to the prepared hive, stocking it can begin. As the box is not completely full, there is space at the sides into which bees can be shaken off their frames. The hive is opened and bees from at least six frames are shaken into the swarm box, one at a time. It is not essential to remove
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every bee but it is important to get most of them into the box. Because there is space below the frames, the bees will fall to the floor and not foul the bottom bars. The lid is then secured to confine the bees. The donor hive is reassembled with all the brood frames together and the colony gives up ideas of swarming. This manipulation must be done relatively quickly otherwise bees will escape before the lid is put on. A water spray can be more effective in keeping the bees from flying than the smoker. With some practice, the whole operation becomes automatic.
This description is based on using BS (National) frames. Experience will reveal how many bees are required and how to estimate the number using different sized frames. In
the early days it is better to be generous.
Inducing the Cell- building Impulse
When bees choose the larvae
from which to raise queens, they are in a cell-raising condition. If the larvae are providing by a beekeeper, the building impulse must be induced. I find when my bees are left without a queen or brood, they are ready to accept grafted larvae from 6–12 hours after the swarm box is made up. During this time, the box must be kept cool in the dark with no disturbance. The bees will discover they are queenless and produce brood food with no one to receive it. My ideal spot is a shaded shed. I give the bees access to honey jar feeders (one with sugar syrup and another with water) on the screen in the lid.
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