Best way to manage the swarming instinct...

[BKF Admin]

Sorry Pete I was at the garage buying some petrol,I think you are on the right road in your quest because you have already done the number one thing you need to do if you want to breed non swarmy bees:

You refuse to have Carnies in your apiary!!!

(In my opinion)

 

[hedgerow pete]

I dont know what it drives us but I have never been a carni man, I dont realy evan know why , just never suited my way of bee keeping realy tried a few other but these dark ones i have realy are very easy to work with a very good beginers bee, but only once they have got started up untill then as a breeder they are very hard to set up nucs and queens from, did you rember the matchs this time?

 

[BKF Admin]

Sorry no matches.
But I am sure someone will be along with a light soon..

 

[BobsBees]

Hi Hedgerow, please tell us all how many times were you Stung last season?
Bob.

 

[hedgerow pete]

from my own bees never, but I would never at any time ever go near one of my hives without a full jacket a viel and leather gloves (have a look in the videos) the only reason is because I once tried the "just pop the lid off to do this, It wont take a second or two " after i was chased out of the apiary i had at the time and stung 4 times one was near my throat, I have never tried to be clever again with my bees as they are at the best of times a little grumpy when they want to be, I have also started to find that i dont just get a small lump any more, they are getting large and more painfull and being as ugly as i am i dont want to get worse.

as for swarm collecting and helping others around 24 times ish but i dont realy count, stung by wasps is around again two dozen but after again a very bad past expierience i never work without full protection

Can i also just point out one other very strange point that is very hard for most to understand, I work in the building industry and as such I have had a health and safety ethic rammed down my throat for so long i actualy do it at home now, steel boots for the allotment ,eye protection when strimming the back garden, gloves whilst digging etc etc the list is very sad and very very long and i also do it with the bee's to!! , gloves , jacket veil, long sleaves over trousers,

I would not want to be teaching/ taught how to do something, with bees by someone that is not wearing that lot, and who is either getting stung alot or running around the apiary with 2,000 bees following them, my days of bravery went out the window years ago, ask anyone who has gone into anaphylatic shook, i did once and i dont want to go there again, Can i also just say anyone who got stung more tham a dozen times or so , is either got some realy bad bees or or is doing something wrong somewhere

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Hedgerow Pete, You state that "dark bees are very hard to set up nucs and queens from". Can you elaborate?


Adam

 

[RoseCottage]

All,
As the person who asked the question I have found this thread so far absolutely fascinating.

So there are three main ideas in the thread that I can see:

1. Split the hive and grow your total number of colonies
2. Split the hive and then integrate the two hives again at the end of the year (Must read up on this)
3. Re-queen each year and use a low swarming breed of bees (but by the sounds of it they may be more aggressive)


Any other ideas...

Thank you all for passing comments -as a newbie I find this very helpful,

Sam.

 

[BKF Admin]

Sorry Rosecottage that the thread went off topic on you,although it's nice to just go with it sometimes and then pull it back inline when your ready.

Its an ism of the forum..

 

[hedgerow pete]

rose cottage and heebee, a telling off for you both

You both have made the biggest mistake ever on this forum and that is one mis quoteing and two getting hold of stick from wrong end

Try this;
point one splitting hive, every time i have ever done this a week later they have swarmed any way, there are i am sure many people here who can do this perfectly where as i cant

point two, i have never tried to combine two hives for that reason, so i dont know what will happen if you tried, again ask someone who does

Point three and this is the biggest one to night and that is ;

MY BEE'S ARE GRUMPY NOT YOURS AND NOT ANYONE ELSES, DO I SPEAK OFF

My bees are not AMM as i have never tested them to prove nor do i ever say that they are any thing other than my own bees, As for temper ask some one with gentle bees to take them to oil seed rape and see what happens, My bees are all i talk about and at my shed please do not take my words out of context and cover everyone elses,

Please when dealing with me and this will save me loads of hassel , take my words or videos , and thats the reason why i do them, take the information that i have put in them and read and digest it and then and only then think about it, if you can make use or work it into your hive great, if you can not then throw it away , do not blindly belive the first person that answers to your question

 

[grizzly]

number one thing you need to do if you want to breed non swarmy bees:

You refuse to have Carnies in your apiary!!!

(In my opinion)

I will second your opinion with my own experience of Carnis in spring 2009, they started their swarm prep early, so i did an AS, all that did was create 2 swarmy colonies from 1. And the pattern continued until i requeened.

 

[hedgerow pete]

lastly and again this is the biggest point and everyone has missed it,

I breed from a pair of hives, each one is choosen because they dont like to swarm, when the breeding proccess starts there is in neither hive any signs of swarming behavour ever!!
from these hives i breed the queens that i use so when i requeen which is not yearly but every second or evan third year, by making sure that there is no swarmy ness allowed i have reduced( not removed or stopped) but i have lowered my swarming to such apoint that it does embarrass people

and lastly heebee, again a wrist slap, i did not say dark bees general but dark bees hedgerow as in mine!! not as a general point please do not get it wrong but please be carfull reading my notes,

I stated that i have issues with MY bee's and in nuc's correct, reasons why , simple i breed an small amount of queens for my own use and not for sale there fore i am not set up to handle large breeders and nuc production, the 2009 season was differant because i have breed 48, the issues i have is simply that MY queens do not lay a millon eggs per day or evan anywhere near the newer type of monster egg layers and as such to get enough frames of food, eggs, sealed brood and spare bees to fill a nuc is very hard to do , i can simply change this by having say 20 hives going these will then allow me to have enough spare frames on what i require, i ended up last year splitting the one breeder hive down into single frames just to help make two and three frame nucs, because i had ran out of bees and brood

 

[The Hyde Ranger]

This thread has been both interesting and amusing, and if man can breed poodles from wolves then why not apis melifera hedgerow, nothing ventured nothing gained, if Pete has less stress by using this method when others are worried about swarming whats wrong with that ?

 

[Somerford]

All,
As the person who asked the question I have found this thread so far absolutely fascinating.

So there are three main ideas in the thread that I can see:

1. Split the hive and grow your total number of colonies
2. Split the hive and then integrate the two hives again at the end of the year (Must read up on this)
3. Re-queen each year and use a low swarming breed of bees (but by the sounds of it they may be more aggressive)


Any other ideas...

Thank you all for passing comments -as a newbie I find this very helpful,

Sam.

don't forget the Snelgrove board !!!

regards

S

 

[tonybloke]

Quote:
Originally Posted by RoseCottage View Post
All,
As the person who asked the question I have found this thread so far absolutely fascinating.

So there are three main ideas in the thread that I can see:

1. Split the hive and grow your total number of colonies
2. Split the hive and then integrate the two hives again at the end of the year (Must read up on this)
3. Re-queen each year and use a low swarming breed of bees (but by the sounds of it they may be more aggressive)


Any other ideas...

Thank you all for passing comments -as a newbie I find this very helpful,

Sam.
don't forget the Snelgrove board !!!

regards

S

or the Horsley Board !!

 

[Hombre]

Just imagine the chaos if all bee keepers of note had been called Smith or Jones. That would have screwed up a bit of perceived provenance.