Killing the queen larvae of a hive that is on the verge of
swarming is not a practical swarm control system. This alternative
system allows us to accomodate the natural swarming instinct of the hive
in order to produce 2 hives that will continue honey production better
than the mother hive would have done.
<this blog post was originally posted on Posterous May 1 2010, 1:41 PM by George Mu'ammar >
When your beehive wants to swarm
What happens when, while visiting your beehive in spring, you come across many swarm cells (queen cells) around the sides and bottom of some of the combs, some of which are already capped. The hive has to reproduce, like all things in nature, so what is there to be suprised about? And yet this find makes the beekeeper's hair stand on end, since it means that the colony is inexorably dedicated to swarming.
For the colony this means that the queen has stopped laying eggs in
order to loose weight and be able to fly, and the worker bees have
stopped making wax in preparation for the great event, when most
foraging worker bees will leave the hive to find another home. For the
beekeeper this means loosing a good colony and the season's honey
production for that hive too. Another queen must be born and must mate
successfully and this carries it's own risks (and who knows with what
drones she will go with!). The beekeeper will have to invest in looking
after the hive as if it were a swarm hoping for better luck in the next
year.
Traditional beekeeping tells us that if we find swarm cells in the hive we must destroy them to stop the hive from swarming. If we destroy all the queen larvae, the colony will be put off swarming, and by the time it reverts to it's normal mode of operation, resumes laying eggs and creating new queen cells, the right moment for swarming would have passed, and it would be easier for the beekeeper to continue controlling the swarming phenomenon.Actually all experienced beekeepers know that this is wrong. The colony will eventually swarm, although it may take less workers with it, but it will do so in a moment that is harder for the new queen to mate successfully (the bee-eaters would have arrived by then, and they love to catch mating queens in flight), and the hive will have a harder time to recuperate from a late swarming. Reversing the tendency of the beehive by force is never a good thing, and although we may manage to do so, it never comes without a price. So what's the alternative?
An alternative way to control the swarming phenomenon Michele Campero, my favourite italian beekeeper, came out with a very nice solution. I have been using it for years and can certify that, when it works well, it really really works well. Here it is:
The concept is that if a hive wants to swarm, let it swarm. We want to obtain 2 hives from the mother hive, and we want to get 2 hives that will continue production better than the original hive. If we do not want to handle an increase during winter we can always re-unite the 2 hives at the end of the season.
Here is how:
The result is this: The foraging bees will return to the new hive in the old location, and will join the queen as if it had swarmed. They will have no brood to look after and will only have to build their home as if they had swarmed. They will collect a lot of honey! The original beehive will raise a new queen, but in the meantime the newborn bees will grow and forage. The worker bees are quite happy to continue without a queen for 2-3 weeks if they know that one is coming. Within a month that hive will be fully back to production, without ever actually stopping completely.
As I mentioned earlier this system tends to work pretty well. Sometimes it works just great and you do get 2 hives fully in production from the 1 you started with.
My thoughts
There is one point on which Campero did not convince me though. Bees build wax when they are very young, between 1-2 weeks old. It would make sense that they should be present in a natural swarm (we all know how quickly natural swarms can build their home). However I believe that with this system many young bees will actually remain in the old hive. This is why I put some combs that are already built, and I do not depend on the fact that such young bees will be foraging and will return to the previous location of the hive.
How to find the queen in a hive of 100,000 bees ?
A difficulty is to be able to locate the queen in a large colony that
is about to swarm. Sometimes it is impossible. In this case, you can
simply put the new beehive empty in the old location. The foragers will
be forced to return to it (in the old location). The next day at midday
the old beehive in the new location will be much less crowded and it
will be much simpler to locate the queen.
Another point worth considering is that it is sometimes hard to convince bees to enter a brand new hive, unless they are a natural swarm, and it would work to bring one comb from the original beehive. The bees will be happy to enter the hive and gather around this comb on the first day until the hive actually smells of their queen.
Contact me
I would love to have your feedback on this method. Feel free to write to me at the following address:
george <at> muammar.net
George Mu'ammar
For more tips on beekeeping, and on lots of other things, follow me on twitter: twitter.com/GeoMmm
<this blog post was originally posted on Posterous May 1 2010, 1:41 PM by George Mu'ammar >
When your beehive wants to swarm
What happens when, while visiting your beehive in spring, you come across many swarm cells (queen cells) around the sides and bottom of some of the combs, some of which are already capped. The hive has to reproduce, like all things in nature, so what is there to be suprised about? And yet this find makes the beekeeper's hair stand on end, since it means that the colony is inexorably dedicated to swarming.
For the colony this means that the queen has stopped laying eggs in
order to loose weight and be able to fly, and the worker bees have
stopped making wax in preparation for the great event, when most
foraging worker bees will leave the hive to find another home. For the
beekeeper this means loosing a good colony and the season's honey
production for that hive too. Another queen must be born and must mate
successfully and this carries it's own risks (and who knows with what
drones she will go with!). The beekeeper will have to invest in looking
after the hive as if it were a swarm hoping for better luck in the next
year.Traditional beekeeping tells us that if we find swarm cells in the hive we must destroy them to stop the hive from swarming. If we destroy all the queen larvae, the colony will be put off swarming, and by the time it reverts to it's normal mode of operation, resumes laying eggs and creating new queen cells, the right moment for swarming would have passed, and it would be easier for the beekeeper to continue controlling the swarming phenomenon.Actually all experienced beekeepers know that this is wrong. The colony will eventually swarm, although it may take less workers with it, but it will do so in a moment that is harder for the new queen to mate successfully (the bee-eaters would have arrived by then, and they love to catch mating queens in flight), and the hive will have a harder time to recuperate from a late swarming. Reversing the tendency of the beehive by force is never a good thing, and although we may manage to do so, it never comes without a price. So what's the alternative?
An alternative way to control the swarming phenomenon Michele Campero, my favourite italian beekeeper, came out with a very nice solution. I have been using it for years and can certify that, when it works well, it really really works well. Here it is:
The concept is that if a hive wants to swarm, let it swarm. We want to obtain 2 hives from the mother hive, and we want to get 2 hives that will continue production better than the original hive. If we do not want to handle an increase during winter we can always re-unite the 2 hives at the end of the season.
Here is how:
- When you notice that the beehive is in swarm fever, as described above, the first thing to do is locate the queen (it's not easy with a large beehive, see later for a trick)
- Place the queen (with a handfull of bees) in a new hive with 5 frames with waxsheets, ready to be built, and an empty super. Place this new hive in the same place as the old hive. (contrary to Campero's instructions I usually leave a few built but empty combs, I do not start completely with waxsheets)
- Move the old hive with all the bees, brood, queen cells, combs and supers to a nearby location within the apiary. It must be a few meters away, not right next to the new hive.
- The old hive will continue to work for the next 2-3 weeks. Give a full 3 weeks for the queen to be born and to mate, and check them to make sure everything has gone ok. Treat it like a swarm, although it will be a fully grown beehive ready for summer honey.
The result is this: The foraging bees will return to the new hive in the old location, and will join the queen as if it had swarmed. They will have no brood to look after and will only have to build their home as if they had swarmed. They will collect a lot of honey! The original beehive will raise a new queen, but in the meantime the newborn bees will grow and forage. The worker bees are quite happy to continue without a queen for 2-3 weeks if they know that one is coming. Within a month that hive will be fully back to production, without ever actually stopping completely.
As I mentioned earlier this system tends to work pretty well. Sometimes it works just great and you do get 2 hives fully in production from the 1 you started with.
My thoughts
There is one point on which Campero did not convince me though. Bees build wax when they are very young, between 1-2 weeks old. It would make sense that they should be present in a natural swarm (we all know how quickly natural swarms can build their home). However I believe that with this system many young bees will actually remain in the old hive. This is why I put some combs that are already built, and I do not depend on the fact that such young bees will be foraging and will return to the previous location of the hive.
How to find the queen in a hive of 100,000 bees ?
A difficulty is to be able to locate the queen in a large colony that
is about to swarm. Sometimes it is impossible. In this case, you can
simply put the new beehive empty in the old location. The foragers will
be forced to return to it (in the old location). The next day at midday
the old beehive in the new location will be much less crowded and it
will be much simpler to locate the queen. Another point worth considering is that it is sometimes hard to convince bees to enter a brand new hive, unless they are a natural swarm, and it would work to bring one comb from the original beehive. The bees will be happy to enter the hive and gather around this comb on the first day until the hive actually smells of their queen.
Contact me
I would love to have your feedback on this method. Feel free to write to me at the following address:
george <at> muammar.net
George Mu'ammar
For more tips on beekeeping, and on lots of other things, follow me on twitter: twitter.com/GeoMmm
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