Queen Clipping

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Polyanwood

Queen Bee
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
2,203
Reaction score
5
Location
London
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
45
The experienced beekeepers who have been helping me learn are very much against this... thinking it unnecessary, risky and mean. What do other people think? I think I am going to go for it next season and will be after advice.
 
I tend to trust the help I am given by Hivemaker,he always clips.
 
I thought i might stand a bit more chance of not losing swarms if I clip. Then the queen will fall on the grass. But maybe I will kill them trying to clip them?
 
Have you practised on any Drones?

Do you plan to breed any Queens next year?
 
I have allways clipped the queens,this is the best part of a good swarm control program.
 
Any other tips regards swarm control Hivemaker?
Do you use a QE above the entrance?
 
We clip our Queens too - well, the only one which wasnt clipped, our Mentor lost for us! (damn fool!)

The pros, as far as Im concerned, far outweigh the cons. Unlike your group, ours actively encourages Queen clipping - we practised on drones in the summer, and marking too!
 
I did mark the queens. I thought about practicing wing clipping on the drones but was thinking I would prefer to see someone else do it first. maybe I'll just have to be bold. Not at all fancying taking my gloves off either since the bees so mean... it is looking tricky already
 
I also listen to Hivemaker and frequently learn from him, and indeed i did say on the phone the other night that i may well try it.
But for a long time my personal opinion has been if you are in this as a Hobby and are not bothered about honey production then why should you.

There are many reasons for it and also against.
 
Hey Sweetums,

I always clip my queens as an aid to swarm prevention. I have mentioned in another thread your neighbors and the public are frightened by thousands of bees flying all over the place. I believe its irresponsible of beekeepers who do not take measures to stop swarming.
When the wings are clipped the queen will try to fly with the crowd but inevitably she drops to the ground or ends up underneath the hive floor. This way you do not lose your foraging force.
I understand why some beeks do not clip and that's their prerogative, but then listen to them moan about how many swarms have left a particular hive.

This hobby of beekeeping is all down to the individual and how they go about keeping bees, as you become more proficient you will see that there are beekeepers and keepers of bees.

Regards; Bcrazy
 
I understand Bcrazy particularly on the point of responsibility, and as i mentioned in the last post i may well do so early spring.

But surely if the hive is at the point of swarming then they will still pour out in their thousands fly about a bit and settle, before realising the queen is not with them anyway. ? What if they cluster together for hours or days, in that time the queen could have wandered anywhere, would they then return to the hive ?
 
Sweetums I think you have just answered your own question regards clipping.

You are getting good at this beekeeping thing,:)
 
Sweetums,

But surely if the hive is at the point of swarming then they will still pour out in their thousands fly about a bit and settle, before realising the queen is not with them anyway. ? What if they cluster together for hours or days, in that time the queen could have wandered anywhere, would they then return to the hive ?

A couple of pertinent points hear.

The workers and drones will begin to swarm and fly all over the place. There will be no cohesion amongst the swarm as the queen is not present. Therefore it is highly unlikely they would settle anywhere, because there is no queen to hold them together.
Once realising the queen is not with them they will automatically return to the hive to find her, and when they cant find her because she has fallen down to the ground they will return to the parent hive. There may be occasions when the queen is on the ground that the swarm will fly to her and remain on the ground until the beek does something about it.

Good luck with the clipping.

Regards; Bcrazy
 
From my experiance of having clipped queens for many years,i have to say that they do indeed cluster,from as little as 15 mins up to 6 hours even on more than a few occasions,the one's that remain clustered for the shorter times are the ones which generally have the queen either under the floor or back in the hive to await her fate,this queen has not had chance to get far from the hive and all the fanning bee's call her back.The ones which stay out longer have usually lost the queen,as she is trying to reach the cluster overland and gets lost in the undergrowth. I have had this happen on swarm control days with up to five hives swarming at the same time,as i am collecting the queens from the grass,all the bee's return when they are ready,i have even had the same hive swarm three days on the trot at a similar time,and go hang in a tree,not even any cells in the hive,but the queen allready confined by excluder,until i can do something about them.And just breaking down cells is not an answer to those who think they have stopped the bee's from swarming,they can have another sealed cell in the hive three days after you have destroyed the others,and off again,the swarming impulse has to be sattisfied,and in some cases letting them do this and removing the queen or confineing her for a few days will work. If you do nothing and leave cells in a hive like this the first virgin out and off they go,with an even bigger swarm than the one with the old queen.Even trusting one cell ,one virgin, in a hive that has lost its clipped queen is very risky,they will often swarm and leave nothing but a few young bee's.I have even on one occasion that i know of swarm one late afternoon and stay out all night,before returning.But still the good point,and main reason for clipping is, they do return,so you have your foragers,and hopefully your honey crop.
 
Last edited:
Good luck with the clipping.

Regards; Bcrazy

I have done cliping 40 years. Nothing luck in that job.
It is sure and routine.

Only is that you do your job. Luck will not help me.

I would say that bees never stay around the queen in the lawn. After 30 minutes they return to their old hive. When you queen emerge, they go.

I gan see swarming that there is no larva or eggs in the hive. They wait for virgin to emerge.
 
Hi Finman,

I know I said good luck with the clipping but that is a figure of speech, it really means wishing you well on your endeavours.

If members are contemplating using clipped queens for part of swarm control they would do well to read up on the subject, and then decide if they wish to clip the queens, as there are other ways to try to prevent swarming than just clipping the wings of a queen.

Regards; Bcrazy
 
then decide if they wish to clip the queens, as there are other ways to try to prevent swarming than just clipping the wings of a queen.

The first is to find a stock which do not swarm. Very few do that.
And when you take swarm queens, you surely get swarms.
 
Sweetums I think you have just answered your own question regards clipping.

Dont get smart with me Boyo ..:biggrinjester:

What i was referring to was the point about responsibility and not scaring the Public/neighbours. clipped queen or not they will still pour out of the hive for some aerobatics.:D

And thanks for sorting out the Smileys dude.
 
Sorry Sweetums,I was talking about the fact they will return to the old hive if the Queen does not join them.;)

I was very close to being an ex beekeeper during the summer when one of my swarms swarmed in the back garden while I was out and my wife was home.

She said the noise was something else.

Regards not allowing them to trouble the public I am not sure you can without giving them more room or splitting them?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top