Avoiding exponential growth

[WingCommander]

Just reading another thread about swarming in the first season.

Last year was my first season and I performed an artificial swarm into a new hive. I now have 2 plus a colony I rescued, although I think they may not survive having looked in the other day...

This year how do I avoid going to 4 hives, 8 next year etc. but still keep going with the two I have? Do I find local Beeks to take potential swarms or to artificially create new colonies? My landlord (pub) is interested in getting some bees at his pub (massive garden already has pigs and sheep in it) so that is an option.

CJP

 

[Alabamaeee]

if you don't want to make any increases just get some spare brood boxes, floors, roofs, cover boards, then do any artificial swarms needed and at the end of the season combine them again for winter.

You will have to kill off some queens or alternatively donate to any beeks who has lost one.

 

[Beesand]

 

[MrGrumpy]

This year how do I avoid going to 4 hives, 8 next year etc. but still keep going with the two I have? Do I find local Beeks to take potential swarms or to artificially create new colonies?

Split and recombine. If you've not enough space/stands for more hives, you can split them with boards (Snelgrove or similar). You can also make up nucs, but I'd leave those in reserve.

That's the theory, though it's rarely as simple as that, and you will need both luck, spare brood boxes and a Plan B (which is what nuc boxes are for). If you're running double-brood it'll be much easier, but I know that's fallen out of favour in recent books and courses, for reasons I couldn't possibly guess at on a family-friendly forum.

For the details, there's a good article called 'Under One Roof' by Nick Withers. The main version on the Kent Association website is a bit awkwardly formatted, but there are printable notes at the Canterbury beekeepers site (the link is 'swarm control notes').

 

[madasafish]

Sell nucs...free beekeeping.

 

[Skyhook]

You have to remember that the AS will have the old queen. If you want extra colonies they may supercede her, otherwise you're going to need to re-queen to avoid them getting swarmy. If you don't then once the new queen is up and running in the new colony, squish the old queen and re-combine. Doesn't have to be at the end of the season, and from the point of view of honey production the sooner the better.

.

 

[drstitson]

you could also try the 2 queen system to increase yield whilst retaining desired hive footprint; culling the old queens at end of season.

r

 

[Finman]

.
If you want to get honey from hives

Smarming is bees' natural habit to reproduce and to handle it properly is essential in beekeeping.

a) Cutting the queen's wing stops the swarm escaping. It gives time to beekeeper to make AS.

b) inspecting every week: if you see queens cells and milk, make at once AS

c) If not above, you perhaps catch the swarm ftom apple tree. ...Swarm in tree tops, 15 m or more high, is hard task. Cutting wing helps. The swarm returns to hive in 30 minutes.

d) Give a box of Foundation to be drawn to the swarm or to the AS. It cuts swarming fever.

c) Take care that brood part of the swarmed colony does not escape. There you get a new queen.

e) When swarming fever is over, join the hive parts to get yield. Make the join before main yield. If you make it too early, they may swarm again.

- If you do not joind the hiveparts, you yield be very small, because the hive parts are not in balance. Balance hive has foragers and home bees.


MISTAKES:

1) Guys think that in AS or in swarm all make forager jobs but they do not.
Half of gang is needed to handle the nectar, to dry it and to cap it.

- then when you have brood part of hive, they are missing foragers. Foragers are 3 weeks old.

2) "then do any artificial swarms needed and at the end of the season combine them again for winter"

If you keep separate the swarm and brood hives, either is able to get a good yield.

- after 3 weeks the swarm has lost half of its bees, and it is not able to forage surplus any more. When new bees emerge (3 weeks from laying) it takes 3 weeks that the hive starts again foraging.

- brood hive has lack of foragers. It has youg bees and that hive will not get any more surplus

- In boath hive parts there is lack of resources, and when the colonies get more resorces, they expand brooding and surplus will be used for larvae.

- at the end of main flow you have perhaps good 2 hives but not much honey.

- then you join the colonies for winter and you will loose those bees what bees reared with that yield. Summer bees will die and you will have a normal hive which one queen lay at the end of summer.

What did you learn: if you do not learn to handle swarms and join them to a productive colony, you will not have succes in beekeeping. Swarm control is one of basic tricks.

The most basic trick is to rear a colony in spring as big as possible. Then you handle swarmon issue and everything is OK.

If you take virgings from swarmed colony, it is sure that you get swarms next year.
.

 

[itma]

This year how do I avoid going to 4 hives, 8 next year etc. but still keep going with the two I have?

You have to steel yourself to parting with excess Queens.


If you do an artificial swarm followed by a recombination (to keep the same number of colonies), you will have a Q left over.

Whether selling them, alone or in nucs, or simply terminating them - if you don't part with your excess, they will pile up!

 

[Finman]

.
Why swarmed hive does not get honey...

When a swarms leaves from a hive, laying stops.
- After 3 weeks a new queen starts to lay.
- Then it takes 4 weeks that the colony has got enough new bees.
- Then again, it takes 3 weeks that new bees start to forage again.

time table is 3 w + 4 w + 3 w = 10 weeks. It is 2,5 months and summer is over.

 

[Finman]

You have to steel yourself to parting with excess Queens.


If you do an artificial swarm followed by a recombination (to keep the same number of colonies), you will have a Q left over.

!

Actually a swarm makes 15 extra queens, and you must abandon them. To abandon the old queen in joining case is normal beekeeping. That is life.

 

[Finman]

you could also try the 2 queen system to increase yield whilst retaining desired hive footprint; culling the old queens at end of season.

r

That is not a good idea.

You must handle quickly the swarming case that old queen lays for main yield.

It takes quite much time that the new queen starts to lay. If the queen cell is just capped, it takes minimum 3 weeks that the new queen starts to lay. Look time table above.

But it is good to make a mating nuc that you get a new queen for rest of summer. Thay are not earger to lay anymore.