swarms

[ladaok]

caught 2 swarms ( ha ha, my own ) boxed up and checked 4-6 days later, the girls have been hard at it, but ( arhhhhh ! )no eggs in either of them ? and had a carefull look for her, could be hiding

I'm absolutely NO expert on swarms, but I checked the old swarmed box, lots of s / cells, but doesn't look like a virgin took em

How long would you expect the Q to take ( lay ) ?

I might have been a bit quick off the mark, as I swapped in some cells just in case they got lost in the melee ... i'll go back and check this arvo

 

[REDWOOD]

Cast swarms I would expect to see eggs in 3 weeks

 

[Finman]

.
A laying swarm queen starts to lay about 3. day. It is same with artificial swarms' laying queen. It is some hormonal thing. When you do an artificial swarm, the laying queen becomes slimmer 2 days, and then it starts to become fat and starts laying. Bees have time to make combs when the queen does not start at once.



A swarm virgin is 2-3 days old, when it emerges. So it can make mating flights 5 days after emerging.

If you meet a swarm, who knows when the virgin has emerged and how long the swarm has been on its voyage.

But swarm queen is ready to fly when it emerges. So it is 2 days old when it comes off from cell.

Mating flights take 1-3 days.

When normal virgin starts to lay after 10 days, emerged swarm virgin starts after 8 days..

And these figures are not record cases but normal situation when 100 % of queens are laying.

Do you practizise artificial swarms in swarm control?

.

 

[REDWOOD]

And all this is weather dependant, I had a queen that took 5 weeks before she started laying.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Before anyone starts ranting, we are standing upside-down from OP's perspective.

 

[Finman]

Cast swarms I would expect to see eggs in 3 weeks

It is after 8 days in the swarm but 3 weeks in the old hive.

, When the primary swarm leaves, it takes with them the laying queen. It leaves when furst queen cell is capped. Then after a week the cast leaves, when first virgin emerges.

Numerous virgins come out from cells and start to kill each other. They are often 10-15.

When the new queen starts to lay after swarming, mostly all brood have emeged in the old hive= 3 weeks.

Many believe that new queen does not lay before old brood have been emerged. But it is biological happening chain which commands this time table.

.

 

[Finman]

Before anyone starts ranting, we are standing upside-down from OP's perspective.

I am on soffa in horizontal position. Horizont is same in NZ too... I lay on left side now, but possibly I would be on right side because of natural laws.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I am on soffa in horizontal position. Horizont is same in NZ too.

Not really. From OP's pespective you are making sweet monkey-love to yours. But from underneath, which is why there are no little sofinmans running around.

To redeem myself, @ladaok, focus your energy where it can make a difference ie on the parent. Get those cells down to one. Maybe a spare in a nuc.

The cells you have moved will provide Q test. At slight risk I suppose

ADD

In general, it sounds like you are manipulating a bit too much now, and too little at the right time. i.e. a timely AS would have prevented all this. Having got here, be careful not to make things worse.

ADD ADD

Everyone loses swarms. But you should NOT lose cast swarms. Rereading, you have had multiple cells in the parents to a point near to emergence. "Action this day".

@Finman; to address your unmarked ADD, Left is still Left in New Zealand, and they drive on the right (not -hand) side of the road.

 

[Finman]

:

Not really. From OP's pespective you are making sweet monkey-love to yours. But from underneath, which is why there are no little sofinmans running around.

To redeem myself, @ladaok, focus your energy where it can make a difference ie on the parent. Get those cells down to one. Maybe a spare in a nuc.

The cells you have moved will provide Q test. At slight risk I suppose

Somebody help ?

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

OK: re-re-reading, now I'm worried. What I had missed is single parent BOX. i.e one is a cast swarm and perhaps you cannot tell which.

Can you confirm that to be the case? If so, the advice is like faced with a bear: stand up straight and walk slowly away backwards.

But fill in the gaps please. eg exact dates of what you saw. How many hives you have etc.

 

[REDWOOD]

The whole of New zealand looks wet today

 

[ladaok]

OK: re-re-reading, now I'm worried. What I had missed is single parent BOX. i.e one is a cast swarm and perhaps you cannot tell which.

Can you confirm that to be the case? If so, the advice is like faced with a bear: stand up straight and walk slowly away backwards.

But fill in the gaps please. eg exact dates of what you saw. you How many hives have etc.

Simple situation here in most parts of Nth Is NZ ....disgustingly wet spring, very hard to open up and rummage around looking for Q/c, all I could do was see how much action at the landing board and count the number of bees bringing pollen in per minute, anything above 25 and the warning bells go off. best solution was putting spare brood boxes on top,
In NZ most fella's run single FD lang and FD or 3/4 lang as supers

How many hives have etc.[/QUOTE] close to 50, and trying to make hiveware as fast as possible