- Joined
- Dec 21, 2011
- Messages
- 2,332
- Reaction score
- 106
- Location
- South London
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 10
Over the winter I like to look into things that I struggle with during the season. So I'm revisiting swarm control.
I find a lot of the methods a bit of a faf what with all the box juggling required. However, I've come to the conclusion I'm just being lazy.
This season I've set aside four hives just to make honey and I'm not sure, based on previous feedback from here, that my existing method of swarm control is the best to maintain hive strength to make a decent crop.
My existing, lazy, method of swarm control is this:
1. See the bees starting to swarm
2. Find the queen and put her in a new nuc with some bees and a bit of brood.
3. Look for eggs in the original hive.
4. Knockdown any queen cells in the original hive
5. Come back in a few days and pick one of the newly drawn cells and knock down the rest.
6. let them make a new queen.
I'm curious about people other experiences of:
a. other methods of swarm control
b. strategies to delay the bees swarming
Thanks
I find a lot of the methods a bit of a faf what with all the box juggling required. However, I've come to the conclusion I'm just being lazy.
This season I've set aside four hives just to make honey and I'm not sure, based on previous feedback from here, that my existing method of swarm control is the best to maintain hive strength to make a decent crop.
My existing, lazy, method of swarm control is this:
1. See the bees starting to swarm
2. Find the queen and put her in a new nuc with some bees and a bit of brood.
3. Look for eggs in the original hive.
4. Knockdown any queen cells in the original hive
5. Come back in a few days and pick one of the newly drawn cells and knock down the rest.
6. let them make a new queen.
I'm curious about people other experiences of:
a. other methods of swarm control
b. strategies to delay the bees swarming
Thanks