swarming but what if

[irishguy]

Ive been reading and also been told by a few beeks that they are checking hives every 7 days from now on seeing as swarming is happening, even jbm mentioned it in my last thread. What i want to know is, if ones hives are building up nicely and is suppose to check every week for swarm cells, what if the temp is low, what is a beek, and esp a new beek suppose to do. Does he bite the bullet and wait untill the weather picks up and hope they dont swarm or is there any other way of telling. Me, i was at teh hives today, bit chilly with the wind and even thou i was due an inspection because last one was 7 days ago, i didnt go in because of the weather. Weather is cold, rain and windy for the rest of the week so sitting here scratching my head about what to do.

 

[Jed D]

I watch the 10 day weather forecast on a daily basis...
Check hives every 7 to 9 days. ( always aim at 7 ' but sometimes 9 days ).

Last week I could see a chilly week coming , so left the Bees with plenty of space and work to do...
If your bees are gonna be stuck at home next week , give them some foundation to draw... ( better than making Queen cells )

 

[irishguy]

I watch the 10 day weather forecast on a daily basis...
Check hives every 7 to 9 days. ( always aim at 7 ' but sometimes 9 days ).

Last week I could see a chilly week coming , so left the Bees with plenty of space and work to do...
If your bees are gonna be stuck at home next week , give them some foundation to draw... ( better than making Queen cells )

They have super each with foundation thou brood box full of stores, brood etc... But how would I even do that anyway, sure I'd have to remove brood or stores to add foundation and isn't that defeating the purpose of building up

 

[dexter's shed]

it seems to me, that every newbie is afraid of swarming, yet it's a perfectly natural occurrence that most bees do yearly, if like me you tend not to pull the hive apart too often then you really only have a couple of options left,

clip your queens, that way, if and when they swarm you don't loose your bees, just the queen, and even then, sometimes you get her back and can then do the split

hope to see/be told that they swarmed, and go collect them

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

it seems to me, that every newbie is afraid of swarming, yet it's a perfectly natural occurrence that most bees do yearly, if like me you tend not to pull the hive apart too often then you really only have a couple of options left,

clip your queens, that way, if and when they swarm you don't loose your bees, just the queen, and even then, sometimes you get her back and can then do the split

hope to see/be told that they swarmed, and go collect them

Thank you, dexter's shed, for reminding us of the context of swarming as being natural - so be relaxed about it. Helpful to calm our nerves a bit.

But only a bit, for some of us. Many, like me, keep bees in urban or suburban settings, where the presence of a swarm of bees in someone's garden - or hanging on a street sign, on a tree in a small city park or in a shopping centre, would be a source of alarm, if not panic, in the neighbourhood.

Beeks being relaxed is good; but urban people are so far removed from nature and its processes that they are easily terrified - and we beekeeper have a duty of care - to others and to the bees.

Dusty

 

[dexter's shed]

Beeks being relaxed is good; but urban people are so far removed from nature and its processes that they are easily terrified - and we beekeeper have a duty of care - to others and to the bees.

Dusty

I too keep bees in an urban environment, yes we have a duty of care, so before bees swarm, maybe even before you start keeping bees, neighbours etc should be told and if need be, educated on bee behaviour and the fact that swarming bees rarely sting, you'll never be able to control everyone out there, people will still panic whatever area the bees swarm into, that's not your problem,

it would be like telling everyone out there that today you might crash the car whilst driving??????

https://youtu.be/E62HMbbosOs

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Thank you, dexter's shed, for reminding us of the context of swarming as being natural - so be relaxed about it. Helpful to calm our nerves a bit.

But only a bit, for some of us. Many, like me, keep bees in urban or suburban settings, where the presence of a swarm of bees in someone's garden - or hanging on a street sign, on a tree in a small city park or in a shopping centre, would be a source of alarm, if not panic, in the neighbourhood.

Beeks being relaxed is good; but urban people are so far removed from nature and its processes that they are easily terrified - and we beekeeper have a duty of care - to others and to the bees.

Dusty

You can become a local celebrity as the person who saves the community from swarms of bees, especially if they don't know where the swarm originated

 

[Finman]

.
After all experience, I have hoped too that swarms will not leave in the middle of rainy weathers. But when I go to look hives, when weathers are good, swarms have gone.

Swarms leave even between showers when they have pressure to leave. New queen are piping in cells and swarm must leave. In rany weathers swarm may have 3 queens, and even 5 what I have met.

To inspect in bad weather, it is enough that you lift one side of box so that you see lower parts of frames. Queen cells are mostly there.

 

[domino]

If bees are flying they can normally handle a quick inspection.

If you can't get in the hive and they do swarm it's not the end of the World.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If bees are flying they can normally handle a quick inspection.

Exactly, you just have to tailor the inspection to the prevailing conditions. The don't inspect under 15 degrees' advice is just a general guide, get in quick, just pull out the frames with brood on, cursory look for any obvious QC's quick shake to clear some of the bees and a scan of the frame and on to the next one. No faffing around with searching for eggs, mites, queen etc you should be able to pick up most signs at a glance.

 

[Finman]

.
To me it was a miracle that swarm may leave even in temp under 10C.
Our beeks reported these cases last summer.

 

[pargyle]

Exactly, you just have to tailor the inspection to the prevailing conditions. The don't inspect under 15 degrees' advice is just a general guide, get in quick, just pull out the frames with brood on, cursory look for any obvious QC's quick shake to clear some of the bees and a scan of the frame and on to the next one. No faffing around with searching for eggs, mites, queen etc you should be able to pick up most signs at a glance.

Yep ... with the exception of the far North most of us are seeing daytime temps that will now permit inspections at some point .. but .. JBM is right .. it should probably take you longer to squeeze into your beesuit and wellies than it will to go through a hive .. dummy board out ... just lift frames high enough to see if they are filled with stores or brood and just lift the brood frames fully, you are looking for QC's. Bottom corners of the frame between frame and comb are a place mine like to hide them. Usually with a couple of obvious empty ones in the 'normal' visible places ... just to throw you off the scent !! It's not a bad idea to note where the frames are being used for brood so next time you can be even quicker.

 

[irishguy]

Decided to pop open the hood and have a wee look inside, both hives have lots of eggs, brood, stores etc.. and surprising the bees werent to unhappy with me opening up even without smoke considering it was very windy and some heavy spells of rain just before i entered.

Really need dummy boards made up because in one hive, i couldnt get the back frame out without rolling quite alot of bees so decided not to take it out and instead went for the front frame which had brood on it. In one hive thou, i don't know if there was a hatched QC, because even thou it didn't quite look like a QC on the net/books or even the ones from last year it defo looked near to it and some different shade of dark brown on it. On another frame, there was a big blob of wax with cells all going in opposite directions and one looked very small play cup with larvae in it but wasn't to sure it was a QC, more like a large drone brood.

Both hives filling out the supers nicely! When putting everything back together, i put the polycarb crown boards on so can have look without disturbing them to much in future.

Happy with the rate of these hives building up and hopefully this supposedly QC isnt really a QC after all and im worrying about nothing. Cant wait for this good weather to return so these bees can get out and fill the rest of these supers and start putting more on.

Another question i have rather than make a new thread, when i take the back frame out in both hives and put dummy board in, can i just put straight into the nuc for them or just best to leave that nuc alone untill theyve built up more. Another beek suggested i feed that nuc now because he said the queen will think theres still a flow on and start laying faster in the drawn comb i gave it, whats your thoughts on it.

 

[bobh1969]

As per the other posts above, After a couple of seasons in constant panic at this time of year the best advice I would have is to plan and be ready for the inevitable. I'm from the same part of the world as you, I generally take heed of the BBC NI weather forecast rather than RTE, Try and inspect every week, If a period of poor weather is expected make sure they have plenty of space and foundation to draw, I always aim to inspect on the weekend early enough in the day so I have time to carry out an AS or whatever is needed, saying that, I'll probably go home this evening to a garden full of bees !!

 

[alldigging]

hope to see/be told that they swarmed, and go collect them

All well and good but when the neighbour who used to keep bees doesn't want to allow you access to get the swarm back, you aint getting them back once they go in their garden.

 

[ail901]

Regarding getting the back frame out, when I take out the first frame I stand it in the roof after carful checking. The next frame comes out easier as there is a gap, that second frame goes into the first slot you always have a gap, when you have lifted and inspected all the frames the first frame out then goes into the last gap. Not sure if thats what you were on about but hope it helps anyway