Anti-swarming system - too good to be true?

[nottingham]

As I understand most bee farmers operate a 10-day inspection cycle. I see no reason not to take a full week, following a really thorough inspection and generous supering.

I can see what you mean but they are my girls. They are family and in the summer months I take no more than a 5 day holiday. This is simply because I love to sit by the hive and watch them come and go. I also have bait hives setup too and the nice people that have let me put bait hives in there garden want to know I am around for when a swarm arrives.

Duncan

 

[nottingham]

most bee farmers operate a 10-day inspection cycle

That would mostly be the ones that clip their queens.

The ones that don't clip are likely to go out of business!

RAB

I don't want to lose my queen I the long grass and if I were to find her in the long grass, to then kill her by mistake while trying to save her.

 

[mandabow]

errrm when the drones die... how are the bees going to remove them from the hive if they cant get them out the door or throught the QX and out the top.. it's going to be struggle enough to get other dead bees through a QX out.

was told part fo the prepping for swarming slimming down was prepping the body not to lay for a few days so her tubes dont get clogged up so to speak, if the queen is being harrassed to leave the hive but can't is reducing her ability to lay, and having to kill off her daughter queens as they are produced i can't really see it as a good thing for the colony.. she may be harassed to death or weary be usurped by a virgin queen who then can't mate.

as others have said, maybe for a holiday but even then i'm not sure i would.. people tried QXs on the doors and bigger doors to stop congestion before, it didn't catch on for a reason. maybe having exit out of super somehow helps tis system more, but IMHO much better to take preventative measures and put up a bait hive to catch them if they do decide to swarm you can reunite colonies later on. bees don't like a queen who can't swarm, they may top her off after a few days of harassing, if this is after she has killed off her progeny and is barely laying that doesnt leave the colony much to work on to survive.. on the plus point they wont be able to get her body out, so it'll be easy to see she's dead

 

[mandabow]

another concern

would be that forraging bees wouldn't be being topped up with/in their queens phermaones as they enter the hive and leave nor having to walk through the queen+ area .. so they may start biological processes like they are in a queenless colony.. ie begin ovulating and produce drones, they are also less likely to top up the honey around the brood frames leaving the nursing bees a longer disatance to travel to collect food for the hatching eggs.

if the temperature drops in the brood area of the hive during normal operation where the forragers are passing through the brood they will tend to stay to warm the place up. if the super is warm enough they may not notice downstairs is a bit chilly and head back out to get more nectar, leaving their unborn siblings to perish.

 

[RoofTops]

Forgive the apparent advertising, although I have no longer any direct financial interest in the company, but what part of (to paraphrase) "used on 1500 colonies over 12 (or more) years" didn't you understand? This amounts to over 15,000 colony-years of experience.

I used it last year in the UK and will use it again this year on all my colonies. It works because it is only used for a few weeks at a time. The "drone problem" for those who wish to apply anthromorphic thoughts to their bees, is not a problem. When the system to reverts to the normal configuration any dead can be removed by the beekeeper or the bees.

 

[drstitson]

i presume previous systems had problems because of QEs at bottom or over entrance will by their nature get blocked with drones that the bees can't remove.

However, with the QE above the brood the drones will be able to fall to the floor (with help of the passing bees) and be removed when the hive is reset to normal confirguration after 3-4 weeks.

if you are that concerned about drone welfare (perhaps you might read vegan beekeeping thread!) - don't go on holiday!!!!

 

[Ely]

Surely you all have beekeeping friends nearby that can keep an eye on you hives while you're away? Or are you all territorial in your apiarys marking your boundaries?

 

[richy]

Abdomen yes,but not her thorax.

thanks for that i didnt know that

always learning