Swarm control

[Eyeman]

Despite all the hype that it was going to be a swarmy year Ive only had to deal with swarm cells in 10% of my colonies. Only another week or so to go before the Hawthorne's over which usually marks the end of my 'main' swarm period.
Not had a single call so far to collect a swarm!
How are others doing?

 

[Jimmy]

Lucky you or perhaps congrats on developing a line that is resisting the urge to swarm?
2018 queens of all backgrounds (homegrown buckfast cross locally mated, Jolanta line, BS honeybees buckfasts, local mongrels) in my hives all seem intent on swarming. Which I'm interpreting as the weather having as strong an influence on triggering swarm preparations as genetics.
I was going to quote Murray McGregor on twitter as saying his southern unit has shown low swarm preps but that was back on the 28th April so things may have developed since then.

 

[Eyeman]

Lucky you or perhaps congrats on developing a line that is resisting the urge to swarm?
2018 queens of all backgrounds (homegrown buckfast cross locally mated, Jolanta line, BS honeybees buckfasts, local mongrels) in my hives all seem intent on swarming. Which I'm interpreting as the weather having as strong an influence on triggering swarm preparations as genetics.
I was going to quote Murray McGregor on twitter as saying his southern unit has shown low swarm preps but that was back on the 28th April so things may have developed since then.

Do yours forage on the rape?

 

[george]

May blossom only just starting here ! All of mine well behaved so far but very early days .

 

[Jimmy]

Do yours forage on the rape?

There is some rape approx 1-2km away near one of my apiaries, so I doubt they are on a single floral source of nectar or pollen.
I think dandelion (now pretty much over), fruit blossom (managed orchards and hedgerow) and now hawthorn + horse chestnut are the predominant flowers this spring for me.
The stop-start weather over the last 2-3 weeks since the Easter hot spell has been significant in terms of triggering swarm preparations in my opinion.

 

[maddydog]

Lost one so far (BS honey 2018 carni) and had a few others thinking about it but knocked them back and gave them more room. A few bad weeks of poor weather has slowed them but I'll see at the weekend. Biggest colonies I've ever had for this time of year.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Of the 20 hives I own or manage I have had to split or demaree 9 of them, they were not this bad last year! I have only had 2 swarms to collect, this time last year I had collected 3 and had 3 arrived in my bait hives!
Every year is different in beekeeping !!!

 

[Mandeville]

It's a very swarmy year here!

So far this season, from 3 colonies, I have had to do 3 artificial swarms (the first on March 28th) and 3 splits and I've caught 2 swarms.

Last year, all I had to do was one split.

 

[Millet]

Last year all my colonies tried to swarm and they where all 2017 Queens..this year i have only had to do one artificial swarm up to now out of the six i have left..i will wait with bated breath though after this supposedly warm weather has arrived..

 

[Worldsend]

In my area of SE Hampshire club already have had many calls and 19 swarms recovered from all over the district

Many more calls than last year's and so far swarms don't appear so flighty as last year and when boxed in situe stay there until evening collection

 

[drex]

Quiet here so far on mine, only done two AS. Most queens were superseded last autumn and I run double brood. Some Have 4 supers on- not full yet.

 

[thedozzer]

I think the SE must have had weather patterns Hot Cold. Hot Cold has flicked a switch in the bees biology, as we thought it was just us making mistakes in our first spring, but know of 2 very experienced BK that have been caught out, and the local bee supply place had run out of nucs as they had sold 12 in 2 days because of swarms and were waiting for more.

We have gone from 1 hive too = 2 hives 2 nucs in 3 weeks. all 14 x 12 and one hive is 8 frames of BIAS after 3 weeks starting out on bare foundation!

 

[thibault]

I found this year very challenging because of the weather, hives very strong too early, good weather, strong flow, then rubbish for 3 weeks, got 1 carni who swarmed, charged queen cells in 40% of my hives, at one stage I was knocking off capped queen cells under the rain and cold weather. Did a successful demaree on 1 hive, I have applied a mini nuc method on 2 hives, need to inspect my out apiary now, had not a chance to do it for 10 days now, I know what I am gonna to find when I'll check as soon as weather allow it... I have buckfast, carnie, and daughters of Amm locally mated. Gonna requeen from the buckfast and less swarmy queens that I have.

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[Eyeman]

I found this year very challenging because of the weather, hives very strong too early, good weather, strong flow, then rubbish for 3 weeks, got 1 carni who swarmed, charged queen cells in 40% of my hives, at one stage I was knocking off capped queen cells under the rain and cold weather. Did a successful demaree on 1 hive, I have applied a mini nuc method on 2 hives, need to inspect my out apiary now, had not a chance to do it for 10 days now, I know what I am gonna to find when I'll check as soon as weather allow it... I have buckfast, carnie, and daughters of Amm locally mated. Gonna requeen from the buckfast and less swarmy queens that I have.

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Ive not had much success breeding from my bought in Buckfasts. Open mating gives poor results compared to sticking with my local strain.

 

[thibault]

Ive not had much success breeding from my bought in Buckfasts. Open mating gives poor results compared to sticking with my local strain.

Interesting, I have 1 local as well who looks good, very calm bees, overwintered well and no sign of swarming, I am gonna test to breed from her as well, just need to see for honey production compared to the buckfast one.

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[ASPIRERITE]

Ive not had much success breeding from my bought in Buckfasts. Open mating gives poor results compared to sticking with my local strain.

You need a breeder queen then all your queens will be good for 2 generations and that also influences the local stock if you have enough hives

 

[Ian123]

Ive not had much success breeding from my bought in Buckfasts. Open mating gives poor results compared to sticking with my local strain.

How much are you paying for those Buckfasts...Your probably just rearing from f1 production queens

 

[Amari]

Quiet here so far on mine, only done two AS. Most queens were superseded last autumn and I run double brood. Some Have 4 supers on- not full yet.

Don't leave the boxes on too long Des. I extracted six days ago and already some combs were crystallising. I put most of the yield into buckets but some into jars which have gone solid already - never known it so quick!

 

[Eyeman]

Interesting, I have 1 local as well who looks good, very calm bees, overwintered well and no sign of swarming, I am gonna test to breed from her as well, just need to see for honey production compared to the buckfast one.

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So long as your queen cups are labelled it's good to try out a number of potential breeding stock.

 

[Eyeman]

You need a breeder queen then all your queens will be good for 2 generations and that also influences the local stock if you have enough hives

If open mated breeding was so certain!