Catch a swarm THIS weekend?? !!

[bjosephd]

Just got a sale email from bee-equipment...

...cardboard nuc boxes and swarm traps in the sale...

I buy most of my kit from these guys but...

"Catch a sweat deal and MAYBE A SWARM
THIS WEEKEND"

whatwhaaat? I hope they are joking! I haven't been through my hives at all.

But they are all seeem to be doing rather well. Seriously hope they aren't all making secret preps!

But I had no intention of rummaging through them for a while yet.

 

[user 6228]

with air temps around here unlikely to get to above 14C for 2 weeks i dont think swarming time is here yet.

 

[bjosephd]

Apparently here 14o sat to thurs

 

[bjosephd]

Maybe I should plan for a long slow steady day with the bees tomorrow!


(Although the 15mph wind doesn't look very helpful)

 

[Davelin]

I've not opened any of mine yet, and have no intention of doing so until this cold wind drops and the temp rises.

I'd be amazed if any were thinking about swarming just yet,..... but then again bees have an infinite capacity to amaze!!

 

[bjosephd]

Don't they just!

Maybe my feeding of pollen sub last month was ill advised after all!

 

[BILL.HEARD]

If they are heavy enough just leave then alone for a while, certainly don't start pulling brood combs about in these temperatures and no shook swarms please!!! You know whom I'm talking about. people like that should be banned
from putting up videos for beginners to have access too.

 

[bjosephd]

If they are heavy enough just leave then alone for a while, certainly don't start pulling brood combs about in these temperatures and no shook swarms please!!! You know whom I'm talking about. people like that should be banned

from putting up videos for beginners to have access too.

Haha... so not a good time for a foundationless shook swarm??

Teehee... well I had little intention of inspecting until a fine April day.

 

[Bee Bumble]

From next Tuesday the forecast here is for 16 to 18C sunshine and light winds as low as 5mph for a week, so I will be inspecting and preparing for possible swarms.

 

[For want of a better word]

From next Tuesday the forecast here is for 16 to 18C sunshine and light winds as low as 5mph for a week, so I will be inspecting and preparing for possible swarms.

And will you be baiting some little cardboard nuc boxes to catch all your swarmy Eastern bees in?


( just jossin!)

Yeghes da

 

[Bee Bumble]

Not cardboard.

 

[user 6228]

Not cardboard.

if you get a swarm in a cardboard box you have about 2 weeks before they dismantle it

 

[For want of a better word]

Not cardboard.

Is it Correx... one of those flat packed horrors one needs a first class honors degree in Origami to assemble?

Too small for a bait hive IMOHO

Yeghes da

 

[Zante]

Hmm... It's 17 Celsius now (9pm) and average day temperatures are projected to be between 16 and 21 for the next couple of weeks.

Maybe I should put a a bait hive out...

 

[Briarfield]

I have a colony in a 14*12 with 5 frames of capped brood right to the bottom and 2 or 3 uncapped.

There is a good patch of drone brood at the bottom of 2 if the capped frames.

That was on Sunday so Unless the weather has had a huge impact I anticipate the need for early swarm control. Would others disagree.


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[bjosephd]

I have a colony in a 14*12 with 5 frames of capped brood right to the bottom and 2 or 3 uncapped.

There is a good patch of drone brood at the bottom of 2 if the capped frames.

That was on Sunday so Unless the weather has had a huge impact I anticipate the need for early swarm control. Would others disagree.


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Where are you briarfield?

 

[Briarfield]

Where are you briarfield?

What I still think of as the North Riding of Yorkshire, but others call Cleveland or Teesside.

 

[Bee Bumble]

Is it Correx... one of those flat packed horrors one needs a first class honors degree in Origami to assemble?

Too small for a bait hive IMOHO

Yeghes da

Not Correx. Six frame Jumbo Langstroth nucs, so approx. same size as a single National deep. Mesh floor covered with wooden board, one old JLS brood frame with Lemon grass oil and one JLS frame with foundation (the rest empty).

 

[Pete D]

No sexually mature drones around, very very little drone brood about in healthy queen right hives.
No swarming around here this side of Easter.

 

[Finman]

No sexually mature drones around, very very little drone brood about in healthy queen right hives.
No swarming around here this side of Easter.

Do you have you forecast when they will begin?
.