A Welcome Sight ht? Most beekeepers pers dont t spot signs of - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Swarming - and what to do about it

By Nick Withers

A Welcome Sight ht?

Most beekeepers pers don’t ’t spot signs of swarm rmin ing

In one recent season:

Had swarmed Beekeeper knew Beekeeper caught

50 - 60% ~ 20% ~ 20%

Important to expect it to happen & be prepared.

The effec ect of swarm rms on surplu lus honey yield ld

No swarm - expect, ct, say 100lbs Honey 4 supers rs? Prime swarm (if caught) t) 2 supers rs? Cast (if caught) t) 1 super? r? Parent hive ? zilch Actions: Prevent Control rol Catch ch & unite Priori rity ty: keep all the worker bees at home!

Actio ions: Preve eventio ion (if you’re lucky!) y!)

• Young queen

en

• Give plen

enty of room

• ‘Non swarming’ strain of bee
• Shoo
• ok swarm?

m?

• Set up a 2 queen

en hive ve

Actio ions: Preve eventio ion (Non ‘U’!)

• Kill queen

en

• Disea

ease (e.g .g. chalkbr broo

• od)

Actio ions: Catc atch and Unite

• Catch the swarm (if you’r

’re lucky!) !) and hive ve it

• Control
• l QCs in old hive to ensur

ure no casts

• Unite swarm hive

ve to old hive ve when a new queen en is laying, retaining the new queen

• Or keep

ep the two (make increa ease) e)

Catchin ing a Swarm rm

Catchin ing a Swarm rm with a Bait Hive

Bait hive swarms ms are frequently not from your own hives

What you see in the hive ve during swarmi ming

In the Hive ve The Bees Other her Cups Cups with eggs Cups with young ng larvae vae + RJ Queen cells ls wit ith larva vae bees lazy (swarmy) y) less foraging ng Seale led queen cells ls swarm issues no eggs from now on VQ emerged cast st issues then another her etc. c. All VQs emerged little le brood left New Q mated large nuc eggs (3wks after swarm) Where is the poin int of no return? n? What is the best st course of actio ion starting ng at each ch stage?

Cups, cells & sealed ed cells

What do you do when you see:

• Cups:-

check carefully no eggs in any cup

• Cups with eggs:-

destroy & look again soon (max 7 days)

• Cups with young larvae

control procedure

• Queen cells with larvae

check none sealed, control procedure

• Some sealed queen cells

has Q gone? - No - control procedure Yes - destroy sealed cells & leave 1 week

• Sealed queen cells, no

VQ emerged? - No - leave 1 cell. Yes - young brood pull other VQs, destroy all remaining cells

• Sealed queen cells,

destroy sealed cells & leave 1 week some young brood then leave 1 cell

Actio ions: Contro rol

Cell cutting ?? Once swarm prepa paration has started, control needs drastic action. Prope per Control Adrian Waring's thesis: Flying bees ) Brood & young bees ) Remove any 1, stop or delay swarming Queen ) e.g. Remove: Flying bees Move colony (in apiary with other hives) Brood & young bees Artificial swarm Queen Take Q away in a nuc or cage her over the supers

Actio ions: more re about control

Other her metho hods: s: Shook swarm All bees & queen shaken into parent nt hive ve, (Q exclu cluder under box to stop absco scondin nding) brood give ven to another her colony (minu nus QCs!). Taranov swarm Cage queen under a board in front nt of hive ve and shake all bees onto it. Many bees will ll form a swarm clust ster around nd the queen which ich can be hived.

Managem ement of procedure edures

Rememb mber er you can't have a swarm witho hout ut a queen (& queen en cells) To be successful ul you need to pred edict where the grea eates est risk of swarmi ming is, for examp mple - the artificial swarm: m:-

The Artificia icial Swarm Procedure re (unseale led Q cells & queen present) t)

• Day 1: Move hive with QCs aside. Repl

placement hive with Q + 1 brood + broodless combs on old site. (flying bees go to old site with queen)

• Day 7: Move hive with QCs to other side of old site.

(more flying bees join old site)

• Day 7+: VQ emerges in moved hive.
• ~Day 14+: New Q in moved hive mates.
• ~Day 21+: New Q starts laying.
• ~Day 35+: Opportunity to unite, retaining new queen.

Management of proce cedure res - eg the artifici icial swarm

Hive Conte

• ntent

nts Risk of swa warming ng

Stage tage 1. Paren rent sit ite Queen en + fly flying bee bees May May swa warm rm New site te Bro rood + young bees bees + QCs Can’t ’t swarm Stage tage 2. Paren rent sit ite Queen en + br brood + FB FBs Lo Low ris risk Day 7 New site te Bro rood + YB YBs & FBs + QC QCs Can’t ’t swarm Stage tage 3. Paren rent sit ite Queen en + br brood + FB FBs Lo Low ris risk V soon New site te Brood + YB YBs & FB FBs + VQ VQs + QC QCs Hi High risk Stage tage 4 Paren rent sit ite Qu Quee een + br brood + FB FBs + Ybs bs Lo Low ris risk Day 21 + New site te New ew Q + Fbs Fbs + eggs Won’t ’t Stage tage 5. Paren rent sit ite Quee een + br brood +a +all ll Bs Can pr prepa epare re Day 35 + New site te New ew Q + br brood + all ll Bs Won’t ’t

After stage 5 the best st course se of actio ion is to unit ite the parent nt hive ve to the new one, retaini ning ng the new queen. n.

All the better er metho hods of swarm rm control end with a new layin ing queen in a strong hive. e.

Thank you for listening