Catch a swarm THIS weekend?? !!

[Pete D]

Do you have you forecast when they will begin?
.

Yes, about a week after my hives drone brood starts emerging

 

[Briarfield]

Not long till these emerge.

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[BMH]

Yep.

I have tonnes of drone brood with quite a few already emerged over the past couple of weeks.

 

[Eyeman]

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

All your neighbour's poly hives will be a couple of weeks in front of the traditional wooden models.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Somebody has reported catching a swarm in St Neots.......so it begins

 

[For want of a better word]

1st queen cell of this season in a limping swarm of Buckfasts caught late last season... only one... pulled it down*.... queen still in colony with most of the stores gone... fresh eggs brood and a few capped drone cells... slapped a 2.5 kg bag of beefondant on... will phone a friend in Devon tonight to see if he wants them... need to get the stripey ******* out of Cornwall asap!!

* did not want a virgin hatching out with the small chance of loosing the whole colony to a swarm... would rather give the colony to someone who wants them.

Yeghes da

 

[Jed D]

My Wife popped 5 crown boards today for a very quick peek..
2 out of 5 had capped drone brood !!!!
I was gonna leave the rest of ours alone for another week or two yet !!!
BUT with the met office saying temps up to 17 degrees towards the end of the week & the first of the OSR is starting to flower..
I think its time I got into gear...

 

[Pete D]

Somebody has reported catching a swarm in St Neots.......so it begins

Nothing on the jungle drums around here of any swarms.
I have looked through over 50 hives in the last couple of days and only 1 of them had any drone brood.
Swarming is dependent on many things, location, hive type, colony size, nature of the bees you have etc.
I am confident that mine wont be swarming in the next few weeks, they are building up nicely and the OSR is coming into flower. I have earmarked some to put supers on next week and a few have them on already.
There will be plenty of time for running around chasing swarms in a few weeks time.

As an SBI I will be out soon checking hives across the region and I am always astounded by the contrast in colony sizes that I encounter.

 

[Erichalfbee]

As an SBI I will be out soon checking hives across the region and I am always astounded by the contrast in colony sizes that I encounter.

Yes, it's this microclimate thingy
Oh .... and types of bee, I guess

 

[birdsandbees]

Checked on mine Saturday, quite a lot of Drone brood and some emerged young Drones present in several, also saw some play cups in one hive, not charged though but with OSR in neighbouring fields and numbers of bees getting up don't think it'll be too long now.
I've put out 2 bait hives already with another two ready to go out soon.