Are regular inspections always necessary

[SixFooter]

E.g. an AS or collected swarm probably wont swarm again, so why not just make sure they have enough space and leave them alone

 

[bushman1872]

er thats not always the case, I bought a nuc last year which filled out in a month and then needed AS ing, did so they then filled out their new accomadation and continued to make preparations to swarm for the rest of the year so it was essential to visit regularly to check for queen and qc,s. This year I have not bothere AS them I just go every week check for the queen and then destroy all the queen cells and beginings of queen cells.

 

[Chris B]

By regular I presume you mean a 7 or 8 day cycle?
If so no there is no point in religiously sticking to that schedule in some circumstances - a swarm is the obvious example (but not an AS which may well try again). But there are other risks as well as swarming i.e running out of space, disease, queen failure, toppling, starvation. The longer you leave things the greater the risk.

 

[Chris B]

This year I have not bothere AS them I just go every week check for the queen and then destroy all the queen cells and beginings of queen cells.

This won't stop them swarming I'm afraid (unless you have a clipped queen).

 

[bushman1872]

yes it will for 7 days and thats all I need worked last season and is working now. But this technique may well not work for other bees and othe queens!

 

[Skyhook]

yes it will for 7 days and thats all I need worked last season and is working now. But this technique may well not work for other bees and othe queens!

One hive at the association apiary was looking quite full a couple of saturdays ago, but no swarm preparations. The following saturday half a dozen QC's, and the queen and half the bees already gone.

 

[Chris Luck]

Are regular inspections always necessary

No, not at all, I just keep an eye on them. Very rarely have to interfere apart from the last two weeks when I have found the Queen in the super on three Dadant hives, one yesterday with the brood box entirely full of stores, heaving with bees and unable to swarm. Intrigued as to how they are getting up there.

My bees, which aren't interfered with, only swarm once as a rule with just the very, very rare caste.

Chris

 

[Chris B]

yes it will for 7 days and thats all I need worked last season and is working now. But this technique may well not work for other bees and othe queens!

Can I put a bait hive near your apiary?

 

[victor meldrew]

yes it will for 7 days and thats all I need worked last season and is working now. But this technique may well not work for other bees and othe queens!

Old Ukrainian friend of mine used no other method of swarm control, it worked for him
He also used to slice the cappings off drone brood (long before the advent of varroa)his reasoning was the quantity of honey they consumed!.
Some of his queens were quite elderly but he decided when they were past their useful best!.
He did lose the odd swarm but not very often !

I ,however use a/s or sometimes just bank the Queen !

John Wilkinson

 

[SixFooter]

AS probably wasnt a good example. And I really meant a full inspection. I think I would do an external visual check every week and maybee peek into the BB and have a sniff inside

 

[bushman1872]

you certainly can but you will not catch any swarms. Whilst the girls will produce a fully sealed queen cell in under 6 days the original queen still remains so no swarm takes place. Everyone's bees are different and have different characteristics same as humans really.

 

[bushman1872]

Can I put a bait hive near your apiary?

you certainly can but you will be very lucky to get a swarm from mine. The girls will produce sealed qc's in under 6 days but for some reason the queen doesn't depart when the cell is capped so this buys me time to knock out all the cells.

Different bees different characteristics- like us really.