Last swarm of the season?

[tkwinston4]

From experience when would you guys say is the latest your bees have swarmed? Reason i ask is because i carry all my swarm collecting gear in my car in the boot and my poor dog has to share the boot with it all. I am sure he would appreciate the space

 

[plumberman]

August 25th so far!

 

[tkwinston4]

August 25th so far!

Blimey, that's nearly winter!!

 

[YorkshireBees]

IMHO it is weather / location / bee dependant.

The old proverb is
"A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay, A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon, A swarm of bees in July is worth not a fly."
However it really depends on what yo do with the swarm!
Late swarms may be used to boost exisiting colonies, if you are so inclined.
Personally I collected my 9th swarm of the year yesterday, although the majority of the other swarms happened in May and the 1st week of June and therefore I thought this one would be a small cast it turned out to be a sizable (definitely worth my time) swarm.
I have the same problem with the car boot / swarm equipment

 

[Heather]

had 3 call outs this week! 2 prime.....

Went into a colony of mine- it had swarmed May (yes, I missed it) settled beautifully with good queen brood galore so I relaxed - brood and half - room + swarmed again yesterday - went in- 10 queen cells. What is going on

Grrr... Sussex University has been given loads of dosh to investigate waggle dances. Nooooooooo - sort out the queen losses.. get real... smell the coffee etc etc.
OK off soap box..

 

[Joseph]

I have lost a huge swarm in September 3 years ago.

 

[keith pierce]

i have about 7 out of 50 that has made no attempt to swarm so far this season...........keith

 

[YorkshireBees]

Great, just had a call whilst at work to find one of my hives (nice swarm collected 21st May) has issued a cast swarm!
I knew they had built up well but still appeared to have room + a super last time I had chance to inspect!
Will double check it is from that hive and not the swarm I collected yesterday after work.

 

[plumberman]

Blimey, that's nearly winter!!

and.........

They were a cast. Queen mated in the Indian summer we had, overwintered and now going great guns.

 

[oliver90owner]

Can't quite remember whether it was late November or early December when I recovered a cluster of bees last year. Couldn't call it a swarm but there was some comb being built.

Regards, RAB

 

[susbees]

September 2009