how far does a swarm go.

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newportbuzz

Field Bee
Joined
Aug 11, 2010
Messages
846
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1
Location
newport co,mayo ireland
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
19 through the winter
i am getting prepared to put up bait hives for any swarms that elude me this year. I have read that swarms prefer certain cryteria which is fine ie south facing 1.5ftcube 1 inch enterance hole 5 meters over ground.
But so far i have not found anything conclusive about how far away from the original nest they are happy to settle. i am sure everyone has had a swarm that kindly just went into a empty hive only 10 feet away. but i am wondering what is NORMAL.
My understanding is that they want to go about 1 mile so that they dont compete for the same flowers and inbreed. but this is from DIGGES and might be incorrect now.
SO has anyone read any studies done on this? Any personal experiance chasing your swarm for miles ?
this is all with the aim of asking people if i can set up a bait hive on their land.
 
Bait hives are usually used in the same apiary but a little distance away - say 20 yards or a bit more if possible. If you can raise them off the ground it is supposed to help but this is not alway convenient.

However, I know someone who uses a top bar hive as a swarm generator and puts bait hives about 5 feet away from it, on the ground, and they reliably catch the swarms. So I guess the answer is the bees are not fussy.

Putting the bait hive a mile away would be not give good results I think and would be as likely to catch someone esle's swarm as one of your own - just less frequently as a bait hive in the apiary would.
 
there is only one other beek within a 4 mile radius. and he only has one hive so i doubt ill be catching other peoples bees.
A swarm generator is a interesting idea. how many does he get a year? Does he requeen the swarms with a less swarmy queen after?
 
Swarm behaviour is an imprecise science. Mother Nature likes randomness (if there is such a word).
 
Last year mine swarmed 6 metres...

Straight up a tree.:banghead::rofl::cuss:

Couldn't catch 'em. My fault for letting 'em go in the first place. Worst still the new queen is a feisty b**ch.

Ben P
 
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Not very far if you have clipped queens,and the swarm soon returns.
 
average for me is that they would fly between 15 to 50 metres away from the partent hive and when they have all collected they would then relocate again to a holding point from where the bees decide where to go.

my lot when they do swarm at the farm only settle near by long enough for them to make sure the queen and everyone else going is ready then they are off
 
thats perfect. 90% capture within 1km. and some serious reading on the blackburn beeks one. thank you everyone. looks like i have some bait hives to be building.
 
Not very far if you have clipped queens,and the swarm soon returns.

my queens are curently clipped but i hope that their daughters will not be clipped. cant help thinkin that if she wasnt ment to fly why does she have wings? + i reckon it can lead to unnessary supercedure. that said my first swarm was caught because of a cliped queen walkin around infront of the hive so i definatly apreciate the use of clipping.
 
Clipping = supercedure is a lovely chestnut. Long may it last...LOL

I clip. always have done.

My AMM queens superceeded at year three usually.

So why not year one or two?

PH
 
fairy nuff about the supercedure. PH do you requeen yours? and if so what timescale? or do you leave them to supercede when ever they want and replace truant queens? Do you find that they wait till autum in year 3 to supercede or is it fairly random?
 
what happens when the slow superceding AMMs are crossed out to other stocks?

and are they happy to accept grafts/queen cells into a queen right colony.
 
I had one hive swarm this year, they went about 20 feet into a neighbours plum tree and were about 3 feet off the ground.

We had a swarm at our club, and the swarmed onto the outside of an empty hive. next to where they came from and were about 1 foot off the ground.
 
what happens when the slow superceding AMMs are crossed out to other stocks?

and are they happy to accept grafts/queen cells into a queen right colony.


Why would a colony accept into a Q+ situation? Never in my experience.

Not being funny but you do understand what a sup situation actually is?

PH
 

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