Swarm Control - clipping wings

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Testing of the queen rearer's patience..... ???

Yeghes da

If you think about it an inspection at 7 day intervals is far too long. The timing from an egg hatching to being sealed as a queen cell is 6 days.
Always catches me out....LOL

Hang on! When I inspect for swarm prevention I inspect any queen cups for larvae AND eggs. This gives me the ability to inspect at a maximum of 8 or 9 days intervals (2-3 day as eggs, 6 days as uncalled larva).

I have never before heard anyone mention 6-day inspections.

:hairpull:
 
Hang on! When I inspect for swarm prevention I inspect any queen cups for larvae AND eggs. This gives me the ability to inspect at a maximum of 8 or 9 days intervals (2-3 day as eggs, 6 days as uncalled larva).

I have never before heard anyone mention 6-day inspections.

:hairpull:

And you can tell the exact age of the eggs in the queen cups?
6 days from hatching to sealed queen cell and the accepted mantra is 7 day inspections.
Suggest you ask the 7 dayers why they say 7 days. ......
 
Why do I need to know the age of the egg in the queen cup? If I inspect every 8-9 days (taking down any queen cups with eggs or larvae as necessary) I should never get an unexpected sealed queen cell.
 
Why do I need to know the age of the egg in the queen cup? If I inspect every 8-9 days (taking down any queen cups with eggs or larvae as necessary) I should never get an unexpected sealed queen cell.

I bow to your mastery of destroying every single queen cup with eggs in it.
For us mere mortals the timing is as I stated
 
I bow to your mastery of destroying every single queen cup with eggs in it.
For us mere mortals the timing is as I stated

Errrr. If you miss any occupied queen cup (egg or larva) on your 6-day inspections you may well lose a swarm. So your point is? 3-day inspections for the hard of seeing! If you are that worried just remove all the queen cups.

I have issue with your assertion that "If you think about it an inspection at 7 day intervals is far too long".

I have thought about it, and I believe this statement is misleading. Inspections disrupt the hive and should only be done when there is a need. 7 day inspections work for those who work a regular standard week and are easier to remember, otherwise every 8-9 days is best IMHO.
 
I have issue with your assertion that "If you think about it an inspection at 7 day intervals is far too long".

.


That would be your problem.
If you can find any fallacy in my reasoning please elucidate the rest of us.
 
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wonder what percentage of beekeepers clip the wings of the q ?

If i keep inspection intervals down to <=6 days (they are at the end of the garden) ... then I can carry on as I am (not clipping) ... ?
 
Why do I need to know the age of the egg in the queen cup? If I inspect every 8-9 days (taking down any queen cups with eggs or larvae as necessary) I should never get an unexpected sealed queen cell.

:icon_204-2::icon_204-2:
So to add to the cohorts of beekeepers by numbers we can now add beekeeping by blind optimism.
Inspecting every 8-9 and taking down any QC, if the bees want to swarm and keep getting thwarted they will just pick an older (over 3 days) larvae, flood it with royal jelly, extend it downwards so when you next inspect, not only will you find capped QC's but very few eggs, no queen and a depleted colony.
 
:icon_204-2::icon_204-2:
So to add to the cohorts of beekeepers by numbers we can now add beekeeping by blind optimism.
Inspecting every 8-9 and taking down any QC, if the bees want to swarm and keep getting thwarted they will just pick an older (over 3 days) larvae, flood it with royal jelly, extend it downwards so when you next inspect, not only will you find capped QC's but very few eggs, no queen and a depleted colony.

spot on!!!!!!!
 
:icon_204-2::icon_204-2:
So to add to the cohorts of beekeepers by numbers we can now add beekeeping by blind optimism.
Inspecting every 8-9 and taking down any QC, if the bees want to swarm and keep getting thwarted they will just pick an older (over 3 days) larvae, flood it with royal jelly, extend it downwards so when you next inspect, not only will you find capped QC's but very few eggs, no queen and a depleted colony.

Also, if you should happen to have "lost" the queen, you will have killed your colony because they no longer have the means to produce a new one.
If you see eggs, all well-and-good, but if you ignore them and just look for queen cells, you won't be a beekeeper for long.
 
:icon_204-2::icon_204-2:
So to add to the cohorts of beekeepers by numbers we can now add beekeeping by blind optimism.
Inspecting every 8-9 and taking down any QC, if the bees want to swarm and keep getting thwarted they will just pick an older (over 3 days) larvae, flood it with royal jelly, extend it downwards so when you next inspect, not only will you find capped QC's but very few eggs, no queen and a depleted colony.

JBM. You misunderstand the gist of my posts. The key word in my last post is "unexpected". Regular 7-day inspections would usually give one some idea that swarming was imminent, and other measures are necessary pdq.
My beef with Beefriendly is his/her assertion that 7-days is FAR too long between inspections and that inspections must be done every 6 days... that is all.
 
And you can tell the exact age of the eggs in the queen cups?
6 days from hatching to sealed queen cell and the accepted mantra is 7 day inspections.
Suggest you ask the 7 dayers why they say 7 days. ......

Really though if you want to be sure you should inspect everyday and take corrective action at the sign of eggs.



It's a myth that bees swarm on the day the first cell is capped.
 
My beef with Beefriendly is his/her assertion that 7-days is FAR too long between inspections and that inspections must be done every 6 days... that is all.

You need to learn to read properly. Nowhere have I stated inspections MUST be done at 6 day intervals.
I have presented reasons why 7 day inspections are the wrong time interval.
If you cannot understand that it only takes 6 days from egg hatching to capped queen cell and swarm long gone and that this 6 day time interval does not = 7 days then gawd help us.
 
JBM. You misunderstand the gist of my posts. The key word in my last post is "unexpected". Regular 7-day inspections would usually give one some idea that swarming was imminent, and other measures are .

Blindly ripping down QC's, expected or not, and however accurately you think you know the age of every egg isn't beekeeping. I think you are just kidding yourself
 
Yes I know, they can sometimes go before it is capped. Although day of capping = day of fine warm weather then off they jolly well go.

Have mostly found they were happy to wait a few days after capping cells even in apparently perfect weather to go, but have got caught out with them leaving only eggs also
 

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