play flights.

[juanito]

greetings,
just been watching a new batch of house bees on play flights, it was 9.15 pm on the edge of dark, temperature around 20c , they just make me smile, the chap we bought them off asked if I had taken any honey off yet , he says if I take one frame and replace it with an empty one, it will put the bees off the idea of swarming, on the last inspection I removed two big black beetles and when I put them on top of the hive several bees did an impressive job of stinging them,
adios.

 

[Skyhook]

Hi juanito

I couldn't believe what you were saying until I saw your location! Play flights are very much a middle of the day thing here. Always a joy to watch.

The 2 main things that affect swarming are the strength/age of the queen, and crowding. Creating some laying space for the queen may help reduce swarming pressure, I always like to make sure they have enough super space that they can move around freely to ease congestion.

All the best