New Queen trying to swarm

[Woodland bees]

Distract them.

I'll try, but there's always one watching...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Swarm prep starts long before you physically see anything.
You found a solution yourself before asking, just keep doing
that, swarm prevention is not a one day fix unless you install
a QR and so kill the urge.

Bill

All this total gibberish from this bot is getting a bit tedious now

 

[Woodland bees]

Demareering when you should add one brood box more?
That only mix the build up.

Just add the box and look what happens.

Thinking about it, I can add the 2nd b/box and if that doesn't calm them I can then try Demareering.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Anyway, the colony seems to be running out of room in the brood area. So I think I'll try Demareeing them with the aim of getting them onto a double brood.

They're in swarm mode so Demarree won't work - it's a proactive rather than a reactive manipulation.They're building queen cells - knocking them down all the time achieves nothing You need to do an artificial swarm of some kind.

 

[eltalia]

I'll try, but there's always one watching...

Agreed... the ones rattling their sticks here in hope
you'll fail and so lean on them for sustenance.

As suggested... keep doing what you are doing, swarm season
isn't that long really _anywhere_ on the Planet.

Bill

 

[Woodland bees]

They're in swarm mode so Demarree won't work - it's a proactive rather than a reactive manipulation.

That's confusing, from a local bee keeping association "only perform the manipulations when the colony is ready. That is, the colony must be ready to swarm. Key indicators will be brood on 8 or more combs, lots of drones and early signs of queen cell production (queen cups being extended)."

I'll have a think and try something, if it doesn't work I'll know for next time.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

That's confusing, from a local bee keeping association "only perform the manipulations when the colony is ready. That is, the colony must be ready to swarm. Key indicators will be brood on 8 or more combs, lots of drones and early signs of queen cell production (queen cups being extended)."

I'll have a think and try something, if it doesn't work I'll know for next time.

You have gone past the 'early signs of queen cell production' to full blown queen cells - they've pushed the red button I use Demarree a lot, anything past the odd play cup being formed and you're in the danger zone and the odds of a Demarree being successful go down. Doing nothing is no longer an option, just giving them more space is not the answer. Artifical swarming is part and parcel of beekeeping
Ignore the colonial buffoon, he's just here to make noise and stir the sludge wouldn't be surprised if he were another reincarnation of a serial troller closer to home.
Next time you see queen cells, you have a few choices - Pagden is the bog standard, there are various Snelgrove manipulations the Wally Shaw variant is good especially if you can't find the queen, If all else fails, you can take the queen away in a nuc and let them raise a QC to hell with it.

 

[masterBK]

To give you some idea of how successful or not Demareeing can be when done at the right time, a friend of mine (with my help) demarreed 30 colonies on 1st May (5 other colonies were left alone as not strong enough). Two colonies produced swarm cells and swarmed and one other colony produced swarm cells but were sorted before they could swarm . So procedure worked on 27 of them.

 

[Woodland bees]

Thanks for the replies again.

The colony has produced Q cups, removed when the eggs have just been placed in, rather than full sized Q cells.

Anyway, I've tried a Demaree and I'll keep a close eye on the hive.

One further question, what should you do if there are two Qs in the hive?

I suspect the hive has superseded, and when I noticed two small Qs they were both virgin Qs. Now ones been dispatched by the colony and the other has mated she's a normal size and I assume the old Q is still present. I've made life a bit harder by not marking the original Q.

I decided to move them both to the new bottom box.

 

[Beefriendly]

All this total gibberish from this bot is getting a bit tedious now

Jeesaus Jenkins put him on ignore if it's bothering you so much. Your constant comments about him/it are just doubling the amount of list garbage to be read.

 

[Beefriendly]

How do you know that they also wouldn't have swarmed if they had simply been left alone on double brood?
Me thinks you are missing a control here.
If it's any help 2 out 20 of my double brood have thrown up queen cells.

 

[masterBK]

The only sort of control I can refer to is that others in our area have at least half of their colonies producing charged swarm cells during the same period (but ony some were on double broods, others on brood and half and some on singles). The case I refered to were all on single mod commercials prior to the Demaree.