Has there been less swarms this year?

[Gwr]

This year we’ve not seen any swarm cells at all in my home apairy ( 20 hives ) and I’ve only been called to one swarm where as last year I did over 30 swarm call outs.

My hives are bursting at the seams so it’s not a case of there being a lack of bees, all the queens are old as I don’t kill them off and I even assumed I’d missed the Queen cells and they had swarmed without me knowing but when I checked all hives recently they all have bright pink marked queens in them.

A couple of my friends locally to me who keep bees have not experienced any swarms either for the first time this year, so I was wondering what everyone else around the UK has experienced this year?

Have you seen more or less queen cells than before and have you experienced less or more swarm reports?

An indication of where you are in the country would be interesting to see if area has effected things. I’m based near Porthmadog in North Wales.

 

[REDWOOD]

On average the same as any other year

 

[Worldsend]

Very few call for my club southeast Hampshire location and few that came much later this year

 

[Brian Bush]

I am my association swarm officer. Swarm calls have been the lowest ever. Bumble bee calls have been very high.

 

[Hachi]

Worst ever year for swarms only two when I needed more

 

[steve1958]

Yes, definitely less swarms.
My own bees have been uninterested in building Queen cells.

 

[Millet]

All my 2017 buckfast Queens tied to swarm i now have hives full of 2018 Queens.. lets see what next years delivers..

 

[oxnatbees]

On thecwhole, very few swarms in Oxfordshire, though some local beeks got enough for their needs, but those success stories are patchy within the county.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

On average the same as any other year

maybe more

 

[beeno]

All my 2017 buckfast Queens tied to swarm i now have hives full of 2018 Queens.. lets see what next years delivers..

Same again

 

[beeno]

Some late swarming to come perhaps?

 

[Gwr]

So apart from 2 Welsh beekeepers, it seems swarming is down, significantly in some places.

How interesting as I would have thought with the weather being as it’s been and the temps very hot even into the nights, that queen cells and swarming would have been worse not less.

 

[thedozzer]

My friend that promised me the first 2 swarms from his hives this year has had none, last year he had 3 swarms from his 6 hives, so he is definitely down this year.

 

[taurus]

None of the bait hives I put out have any interest this year. We usually get a lot of swarms round us as there are several wild colonies - or rather there were. I think the cold spring killed them all off as they've all disappeared.

 

[Julie in Ash]

Our association swarm officer (Kent area) said that swarm calls were very late starting this year, but were coming thick and fast around end of June, start of July. Three calls in one day at one point. So much so it was a problem as everyone was running out of equipment. Haven't seen Q cells in the association hives for a couple of weeks though, so we think it's done for this year.

 

[Eyeman]

I am my association swarm officer. Swarm calls have been the lowest ever. Bumble bee calls have been very high.

Collected 8 swarms of honey bees this year including this one in a roof top car park and wasn't available for another 3. No calls for the tree bumble bee which is unheard of. Year before last we had 29 calls in one day about them.

 

[Eyeman]

All my 2017 buckfast Queens tied to swarm i now have hives full of 2018 Queens.. lets see what next years delivers..

Second generation locally mated bucks can be sometimes a bit tetchy. Did you keep the offspring or buy in new bucks?

 

[DaveG23]

Here in the west of Ireland most people I have spoken to think swarming is up. I know quite a few people who have caught swarms (myself included). My friend who is a gardener has 5 swarms either coming in to land where he happens to be working or just flying by when he is driving between jobs.
Also quite a few swarms have been found settling in to cow sheds etc.

Maybe they are taking advantage of good weather after last years miserable summer?

 

[Heather]

Brighton area , very low swarm calls, and now no drones in any of my own hives.
None of mine swarmed but I did do shook swarm start on them all this year, kept them too busy I think.

 

[Karsal]

Only five swarm calls this year and four of those were for bees that had just started to enter the soffits of the houses I was called out to. So only one collected and that was a small cast.
On the other hand. I made up my own swarm lure this season and caught four swarms in my back garden and three on the fire escapes at my wife's place of work which is two miles away. May and the beginning of June were the best, but no more calls after the middle of June.
All doing well.