A task: you buy a 2.0 kg swarm. How many bees you have there

Finman · Sep 27, 2016

.calculating is not easy job. There are many weights said about bees.

Second task: How much langstroth frames that swarm needs?

JEP · Sep 27, 2016

Count the legs and divide by 6.

user 6228 · Sep 27, 2016

a useful approximation is a bee weighs 0.1 gms which makes 10^4 bees per kg.
but its a bit like saying g is 10ms^-2
or c is 3x10^8ms^-1

Finman · Sep 27, 2016

.
More bets?

jenkinsbrynmair · Sep 27, 2016

Depends how big the bees are - they come in all sizes - a bit like Boo Bees

B+. · Sep 27, 2016

Finman said:
.calculating is not easy job. There are many weights said about bees.

Second task: How much langstroth frames that swarm needs?

It depends on the density of bees on the comb. If they are clustered densely, they would need less space than if they were spread out.
If I had to guess, I'd say 5-6 combs should be enough. 2Kg is still just a nuc.

Finman · Sep 27, 2016

.
That I can say that 2 kg swarm occupy 9 frame langstroth box and draw all foundations.

Compare with package bees.
.
.

Anduril · Sep 27, 2016

Are the bees well fed or starving? How many mites to subtract from the equation?

Finman · Sep 27, 2016

jenkinsbrynmair said:
Depends how big the bees are - they come in all sizes - a bit like Boo Bees

Mostly bees are 0.1 -0.1 g.
Some are 0.08

But to weigh a bee is difficult, because they have allways more less honey in their honey belly.
Even when a new emerge, it has got honey from nurser bees via tiny hole.

I bought a digital balance and bees full of honey weigh 0.17 g.

Hivemaker. · Sep 27, 2016

Approx... 15,700.

Finman · Sep 27, 2016

Okay then.

When swarm leaves, all bees have stomach full of honey. Weigh of 10 bees is about 1.5-1.7 g.

The number of bees / kg is then 6000-6700.

Finman · Sep 27, 2016

If the bee's weigh is 0.1 g and with full load it is 0.15 g, we can say that a bee can carry a load 50% out of its own weigh.

Or... Load is 1/3 out of a flying bee with full liad.

If a bee has foraged at the distance of 2 km, it has quite small load when it returns to home.
.

For want of a better word · Sep 27, 2016

Finman said:
Okay then.

When swarm leaves, all bees have stomach full of honey. Weigh of 10 bees is about 1.5-1.7 g.

The number of bees / kg is then 6000-6700.

Now that depends upon the density of the honey.
If the bees had all swarmed off then shirley the weight would be zero
Very hypotheatical if you ask me... sounds like one of the BBKA module questions!
:icon_204-2:

Nos da

Finman · Sep 27, 2016

icanhopit said:
Now that depends upon the density of the honey.
If the bees had all swarmed off then shirley the weight would be zero
Very hypotheatical if you ask me... sounds like one of the BBKA module questions!

Nos da

That happens even in better families

Finman · Sep 27, 2016

.
We can say too, that 2 kg swarm has 0.7 kg honey when it leaves the hive.
It is not much when when we think that to draw combs to langstroth size hive without foundations needs 15 kg honey, and 7 kg with foundations.
.
It is a difference too, if you put the swarm onto ready combs or into foundationless hive.
.

charlievictorbravo · Sep 27, 2016

The Czech, Doctor Linhart, whose work of swarm control by drone-breeding we discussed last week, (see "Opinion on this" thread) says:

the mean weight of a hived worker bee is 0.1gm
the weight of a swarm-forming worker is 0.15gm
the weight of a drone is 0.23gm
drones are bred at a rate that is 4.5 times lower than the females in a normal colony - my calcs suggest that workers are 82% of a swarm and 18% are drones - CVB

so if Y is the number of bees, the equation is
2000 = (82/100)xYx0.15 +(18/100)xYx0.23
becomes
2000 = 0.1644Y
so
Y = 12,165 bees

I claim my prize from the phantom Fin.

CVB

Finman · Sep 27, 2016

charlievictorbravo said:
[*]the weight of a drone is 0.23gm
]my calcs suggest that workers are 82% of a swarm and 18% are drones.

CVB

What I have seen drone weights from internet, it is 170 mg, as much as virgin

My swarms have 18 drones. Not 18%. That much is a catastrophe..it means that out of 10 brood frame hive 2 frames are mere drones. Never.

From which sleave you have drawn that 18% Mr Phantom?

I have looked many sources when I have tried to find out the weight of the bees.

.

user 6228 · Sep 27, 2016

charlievictorbravo said:
The Czech, Doctor Linhart, whose work of swarm control by drone-breeding we discussed last week, (see "Opinion on this" thread) says:

the mean weight of a hived worker bee is 0.1gm

the weight of a swarm-forming worker is 0.15gm

the weight of a drone is 0.23gm

drones are bred at a rate that is 4.5 times lower than the females in a normal colony - my calcs suggest that workers are 82% of a swarm and 18% are drones - CVB

so if Y is the number of bees, the equation is
2000 = (82/100)xYx0.15 +(18/100)xYx0.23
becomes
2000 = 0.1644Y
so
Y = 12,165 bees

I claim my prize from the phantom Fin.

CVB

Is that 0.15 g take off weight or landing weight? After all fuel is consumed in flight.

Finman · Sep 27, 2016

.
I have measured myself the bees which are full of honey on combs. But I like big size bees.

I bought an accurate digital balance just for weighing bees. It costed 100€. That made me find out the sizes of bees because it revieled out that internet may present what ever numbers.

Phamtom assumptions against practical measuring. Sorry.

charlievictorbravo · Sep 27, 2016

Here's the link to Dr Linhart's paper - look at page 539.- http://thermosolarhive.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Biologia-Antiswarming-behaviour.pdf

I don't know how many drones go with the swarm - I used Linhart's figure for the proportion of general drone population in a hive in the absence of anything definitive that I could find.

CVB

A task: you buy a 2.0 kg swarm. How many bees you have there

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