What to Do About Swarming : 25
you know, you will be left with an inferior queen, half the bees and less honey.
Recognising Swarm Cells
Play cells are usually found at the edges of the frames. They look like acorn cups
Predicting Swarms
The preparation for swarming starts about two weeks before the bees actually go, but there are not many signs that alert us to this. According to Seeley (2010) the workers start the queen on a fitness and starvation regime so that she is light enough to fly off with the swarm. For us, the important tell-tale sign is that they start making queen cells by allowing eggs in queen cups to develop into larvae. The workers elongate these cells vertically into (swarm) queen cells. If we inspect the colony and see larvae immersed in royal jelly in the queen cells before they are sealed on the ninth day from the laying of the egg, then we can usually take pre-emptive measures. The queen normally leaves the hive with about 20–60% of the colony on the day the first queen cell is sealed so it is really important that we are on time with our inspections. Years ago, the Apidictor was invented which was supposed to predict the start of swarm preparations by measuring the changing sounds within the hive. Unfortunately it was only partially reliable as it could only note the change in tone about half an hour before the
April 2015 Vol 97 No 4
swarm emerged, when the bees were getting themselves into a stimulatory frenzy. Recently the Arnia system, having sensors within a hive, is able to do an acoustic analysis over time and, in the future, when these different sounds have been interpreted, the makers hope to be able to predict the start much earlier on in the swarming process (
www.arnia.co.uk).
Regular Inspections at Peak Build-up
Knowledge of your locality and the progressive expansion of your bees will give you some indication of when to start doing weekly inspections. The appearance of drones in the colony is one indication of peak build-up but you need to be really observant when looking for queen cells as the bees often cover them and they can easily be missed. Even in the rain it is important to look regularly for swarm cells and, with an assistant holding an umbrella, this can be done quickly. As soon as you see queen cells, stop and think and plan your next move but do not destroy them! I know many books say to knock them down but it just frustrates the colony which will quickly make new queen cells from older larvae and, before
The beginner must be warned that not all queen cells seen in the hive are built in response to the swarming impulse. Some queen cells look quite different, such as emergency queen cells, produced at the sudden loss of the queen and made from converted worker cells that already contain a larva. They are part horizontal and part vertical, looking like the broken nose of a rugby player. The colony does not swarm when these are present, so we should let the bees select their own queen and leave well alone.
Swarm cells, on the other hand, develop from queen cups (play cups) and number anywhere from five to 20. They are often found near the bottom bars or sidebars of frames and may even be in the middle, hanging vertically down. It is only when these swarm cells are present that we need to react as they indicate that the bees are intent on swarming. If caught in time, the beekeeper can intervene with an artificial swarm. This allows the bees to feel that they have swarmed but prevents losing any bees and
saves your potential honey crop. So this is what we do.
The Artificial Swarm
1 When unsealed queen cells are found, look for the old queen. Leave her on the frame and put it in a new brood box with a new floor, crownboard, etc. Place this new box on the original site instead of the old hive. Add one frame of sealed brood and fill up the box with frames of foundation and/or drawn comb. It is imperative to destroy any queen cells in this box.
2 Any supers go on top of this new box, above a queen excluder.
3 Put the old hive, with all the queen cells, next to this colony (about five feet away) but at right angles to it, giving it a small entrance.
4 Flying bees will join the old queen in the new box on the original site. As there is little brood here, the bees will resemble a swarm occupying a new home and, with queen pheromone spreading around quickly, they are unlikely to think about swarming again that year.
5 Five days later move the old hive (containing the old brood, nurse bees and
Encouraging a swarm to move into a nucleus box
www.bee-craft.com
Claire Waring
Dinah Sweet
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
