DerekM Board - A method of AS

[charlievictorbravo]

WELL DONE, WELL SPOTTED THANK YOU I missed something out. We used an intermediate box for the shook frames so we could empty out completely the original brood box and floor. We then replaced the frame back from the intermediate box into the original.

THEN

its much much easier on a board thats been shaken and held upto the light, and you completely empty the old box before filling it up again.

I wish the Admin would let me go back and edit that in.

Would you have time to edit your various posts into a .pdf or .doc file and attach it to a new post so that we, who need a simple set of instructions to follow, can print it in one piece rather than as a series of posts in a thread. I'd be happy to do an idiot's proof-reading for you.

CVB

 

[Finman]

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Method to find a queen.

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[Jimy Dee]

DerekM - WINNER WINNER. OUTSTANDING DEVELOPMENT AND MANY MANY THANKS FOR SHARING IT. YOU JUST MADE SWARM CONTROL SO SIMPLE. ALL BEGINNERS TAKE NOTE.

Admin - please make a sticky out of this - one for the annals of beekeeping

 

[Ely]

I'm interested in this method but are old returning flying bees the best to be looking after the brood?

 

[user 6228]

I'm interested in this method but are old returning flying bees the best to be looking after the brood?

Like in all the other AS methods you only shake a proportion of the bees . as I wrote make sure when shaking you leave some on to look after the brood. This way it isn't just the flying bees in the old nest .

 

[Hivemaker.]

ALL BEGINNERS TAKE NOTE.

Heaven forbid.

 

[Arfermo]

I wish the Admin would let me go back and edit that in.[/QUOTE]

Copy and paste the original into new post and after editing it repost it - if you so minded? Simples.

 

[BeeJayBee]

WELL DONE, WELL SPOTTED THANK YOU I missed something out. We used an intermediate box for the shook frames so we could empty out completely the original brood box and floor. We then replaced the frame back from the intermediate box into the original.

THEN

its much much easier on a board thats been shaken and held upto the light, and you completely empty the old box before filling it up again.

Similar, sort of, to the way we've done the Taranov but we just moved the existing colony out of the way and put a new box there. As each frame is cleared of bees it's put back into the original box, except for one frame of eggs and young brood, which goes into the new box to anchor the queen.

All the books seem to say the Taranov has to be done at the front of the original hive, but it doesn't. It works just as well behind, and doesn't have to be close either. The bees have to fly home, rather than walk, to make sure the queen is left behind.

If you prop the new box +frames alongside, or over, the cluster of bees they just walk up into it. Only takes them a few minutes.

 

[dickbowyer]

What happens if you can't find the queen and they have already swarmed? The AS colony will then be queenless and eggless.

 

[madasafish]

Sorry Derek but I find the entire thread hopelessly confusing.

 

[user 6228]

Sorry Derek but I find the entire thread hopelessly confusing.

I'm writing a document and getting it checked by another beekeeper who hasnt done this AS before. All documentation needs testing, as its easy to overlook what is to you obvious and simple once you have done something, but opaque if you havent.

 

[madasafish]

I'm writing a document and getting it checked by another beekeeper who hasnt done this AS before. All documentation needs testing, as its easy to overlook what is to you obvious and simple once you have done something, but opaque if you havent.

Thanks.

I like simple: it suits my brain which as it gets older has problems understanding stuff.. I still remember things if I want to...

 

[Elaine]

Heaven forbid.

Hi Hivemaker,

I respect your experience as a beekeeper and if there is something inherently wrong with this method, please let me know what it is and why we should not suggest it as an option to other bee keepers. We did this several times last year, all of which resulted in 2 viable colonies, and no 'uncontrolled' swarming.

Elaine

 

[Hivemaker.]

Hi Hivemaker,

I respect your experience as a beekeeper and if there is something inherently wrong with this method, please let me know what it is and why we should not suggest it as an option to other bee keepers. We did this several times last year, all of which resulted in 2 viable colonies, and no 'uncontrolled' swarming.

Elaine

And of course you recommend that new beekeepers (beginners) should be tipping their bees out on a sheet on their lawn, around a bucket, to swarm them, if they cannot find the queen.

 

[Tom Bick]

- they've "swarmed".

It's hardly a swarm and not even close compared to all the other swarm control methods available. I can just imaging the innocent reading this and thinking all we have to do is shake the bees out onto a blanket on the lawn of their back gardens then stand back and watch the potential problems that may happen.

You would serve your time better to train yourself to find the queen and Save yourself a whole load of trouble and time.

 

[Anduril]

A similar thing to this was done on a Martha Kearney programme, but the queen was caged and placed on a post and bees were thrown onto the post making an alleged swarm.

 

[itma]

It's hardly a swarm and not even close compared to all the other swarm control methods available. I can just imaging the innocent reading this and thinking all we have to do is shake the bees out onto a blanket on the lawn of their back gardens then stand back and watch the potential problems that may happen.

You would serve your time better to train yourself to find the queen and Save yourself a whole load of trouble and time.

... As we dont mark or clip the queen our queens are often elusive at AS time, so ...

There is a clue in there somewhere ...

 

[wessexmario]

The point of this method isn't so much whether you can find the queen or not, it's more about copying the process by which a colony swarms in the wild.

The period that the colony is outside the hive is a fundamental part of this.
I don't see it as a lazy method (ie: can't be bothered to find the queen), it's treating the whole colony as an organism, and is very much in sympathy with what a colony does naturally when swarming.

 

[Michael Palmer]

What does AS mean. Artificial swarm?

 

[wessexmario]

yes.