Prevention or control?

[Fatbee]

If my memory serves me right when I read about the Curry method is seemed just like a vertical artificial swarm and was relying on the bottom colony with old queen and flying bees not to swarm after the A/S bit was done to them. Seemed risky to me, depends upon the season and colony strength, too many blanket assumptions.

I now do vertical swarm control using the modified Snelgrove method which removes the queen from the flying bees (the scouts) for a week to reduce swarming fever because they go queen less which seems to make more sense to me. Worked last year, will see if it does this year.

 

[enrico]

I will be honest. I have been keeping bees for thirty plus years now, I still get swarms, I do swarm control and have just about tried every method but at the end of the day it is more a way of increasing or replacing stock that has swarmed or is about to.......trying to stop an urge that is so essential to existence of a species is like trying to pee into the wind, it never really works out well!
That is one of the reasons why I am against urban beekeeping, they will end up in your neighbours chimney one day!
I have found the best way is to try and get your hives as strong as possible for any known flow....lime here, and then just let nature take its course. If you recover the swarm all well and good, I seem to end up with about the same amount of hives at the end of the year as the beginning of the year whatever happens, I just increase hives by always using my best queen. That's what works for me!
E