Swarming - Learning about the different techniques

[drex]

And then you can give queen rearing a go. Selecting from my best stocks and culling the less desirable, my mongrel bees qualities are steadily improving. It is not easy, but is fairly simple and is fun and has added a whole new dimension to my beekeeping.

 

[Buzzlodge]

Is there any way of working out what strain of bee you have? As mine were from a swarm, I do not know their heritage.

The appearance of the queen might give you a clue. She might be typical Amm for example, but its just an indication, not conclusive and remember she has mated with many different drones so the makeup of the actual bees can not be known. Most likely they're whatever is most often kept in your locality.

Analysis of the wing patterns used be used but I think its largely discredited now. Gene analysis can also be used but this is more for scientific research than actual beekeeping.

 

[Beersmith]

It wasn't aimed at you but we constantly hear people on here writing off any caught swarm as having bad swarming genes - it's not true, for all you (the general beekeeping community) know this may be the first instance that colony or its forebears have swarmed in generations.

True.

"for all you know this may be the first instance that colony or its forebears have swarmed in generations"

Absolutely true.

Nevertheless there is a subtle issue here. Nothing to do with bee keeping but courtesy of the Reverend Thomas Beyes who 300 years ago derived results about conditional probability that are now known as Beyes theorem.

Best illustrated with an example. Suppose the population is divided into 50% good drivers who rarely have accidents and 50% bad drivers who often have accidents. Pick a driver purely at random and the chance he is bad is 50%. But now pick a driver given that the driver has just had an accident and the chance he is bad is much greater than 50%.

If colonies vary in their propensity to swarm, similar mechanisms could be in operation.

 

[Poly Hive]

In my view the best skill that helps with the swarming issue is learning to find the queen.

Coupled with that and of at least equal importance is learning to read the colonies. If you don't have the basic numbers in your head this is near impossible.

Are there eggs? The queen is most likely present.

No eggs and no open brood... and so on and so on.

PH

 

[Erichalfbee]

Required reading for beginners?

http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/There-Are-Queen-Cells-In-My-Hive-WBKA-WAG.pdf
http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Swarm-Control-Wally-Shaw.pdf

 

[bingevader]

As long as you have a good stab at one method, I wouldn't get too anxious about the whole thing.
Even the best beekeepers lose swarms.
We've tried most of the methods and haven't always been successful.
It's a very natural process and a fantastic sight to witness.
To be honest, I'd be really worried if someone suggested they'd produced a strain that didn't swarm.
To have removed a species desire to reproduce would not be a good thing at all.

they swarmed the next day into a bait hive that I set up..

Do any of the clubs advise on bait hives these days as part of the training sessions?
I don't think it would be a bad thing.

 

[Newbeeneil]

As long as you have a good stab at one method, I wouldn't get too anxious about the whole thing.
Even the best beekeepers lose swarms.
We've tried most of the methods and haven't always been successful.
It's a very natural process and a fantastic sight to witness.
To be honest, I'd be really worried if someone suggested they'd produced a strain that didn't swarm.
To have removed a species desire to reproduce would not be a good thing at all.



Do any of the clubs advise on bait hives these days as part of the training sessions?
I don't think it would be a bad thing.

I was told today that one of the topics for this year at the teaching apiary will be bait hives.....

 

[Erichalfbee]

I was told today that one of the topics for this year at the teaching apiary will be bait hives.....

Good stuff
It’s so easy to set up and so wonderful to attract a swarm.
I do it every year even though I don’t want more bees. What is it about beekeepers and free bees!

 

[E&MBees]

Thanks for the links. I will have a read.

 

[Poly Hive]

Because I use out apiaries and keep spare kit on those sites there are always "bait hives" of one configuration or another. It's odd how often they choose a five frame nuc box though.

PH

 

[E&MBees]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Plenty to consider now and some for the future such as queen rearing when I am more experienced.