Will bees swarm in their first full season?

[oliver90owner]

You may lose half of the colony

And maybe most or all of any potential honey crop? Some may keep bees with no wish to collect a crop; most would like some return.

RAB

 

[Jonathan]

Keeping one hive is risky so the sooner you get two the better. Always keep at least two just in case anything goes wrong. Given that get another hive anyway but I would say as sure as eggs are eggs your current hive is more likely to swarm than not. An artificial swarm is the way forward if any signs of swarming are detected. Good luck.

 

[REDWOOD]

Some good replies but not the right one's, your first priority is to prevent your bees from going into swarm mode, ask yourself what triggers swarming and the most common reason is cramped conditions and not enough room for the queen to lay. Adding a super with a QE is not giving the bees more space as this does not add more brood area. Giving the bees more room and more brood area will lessen the likelihood of bees swarming, however age of queen and strain are other influences but not so vital

 

[oliver90owner]

Some good replies but not the right one's

I thought the OP was questioning whether they might swarm or not and if a new hive should be sourced with a view to splitting the colony.

Both those points were covered, the first early in the thread and the latter was cleared up on page two (after some muddling reference to swarm mode, splitting the colony and needing drawn comb).

RAB

 

[SteveJ]

Will they swarm? Maybe, maybe not. Are you worried if they do. You may lose half of the colony but they should build back up ok. You may even catch the swarm and if you don't have a spare hive, you can give the swarm to another beek who will be grateful for it. Don't get sucked in to thinking swarming is wrong and you must prevent it. Your choice, but you do have options.

If you have my allotment committee to deal with it is a very wrong thing.

SteveJ


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Jonathan]

Some good replies but not the right one's, your first priority is to prevent your bees from going into swarm mode, ask yourself what triggers swarming and the most common reason is cramped conditions and not enough room for the queen to lay. Adding a super with a QE is not giving the bees more space as this does not add more brood area. Giving the bees more room and more brood area will lessen the likelihood of bees swarming, however age of queen and strain are other influences but not so vital

I would certainly question the strain of the bee not being so vital in terms of swarming. A couple of years ago I purchased some Carniolans out of interest. Believe me these would swarm regardless of size of brood box. I think the strain of bee is probably more important than anything else - even the size of the brood box.

 

[BeeBo]

In general, having two colonies (rather than one) is much more 'sustainable' - as you have a full set of essential spare parts (bees) on hand to help sort out any mistakes that otherwise could have been catastrophic.
And for two colonies, I'd suggest a third (spare, but very basic) hive AND a nuc would be a minimum level of spare capacity.

What happens when you have filled the third hive?

 

[itma]

In general, having two colonies (rather than one) is much more 'sustainable' - as you have a full set of essential spare parts (bees) on hand to help sort out any mistakes that otherwise could have been catastrophic.
And for two colonies, I'd suggest a third (spare, but very basic) hive AND a nuc would be a minimum level of spare capacity.

What happens when you have filled the third hive?

Use Hive 3 to do an artificial swarm with Colony 1. (Assuming for your scenario that it is needed)
Use the nuc to do an artificial swarm with colony 2. (Assuming it is needed)
Recombine 1 & 3.
After a week or so, complete this by removing a brood box (lets say its 3).
Transfer from nuc to 3 and then recombine with 2.

Having a (poly?) nuc for the just-in-case 4th hive is cheaper than having another full hive, and takes less space to store. It is also a pretty good swarm-collector's tool, although of course, you'd take action before they swarmed for real, right?

 

[BeeBo]

Use Hive 3 to do an artificial swarm with Colony 1. (Assuming for your scenario that it is needed)
Use the nuc to do an artificial swarm with colony 2. (Assuming it is needed)
Recombine 1 & 3.
After a week or so, complete this by removing a brood box (lets say its 3).
Transfer from nuc to 3 and then recombine with 2.

Having a (poly?) nuc for the just-in-case 4th hive is cheaper than having another full hive, and takes less space to store. It is also a pretty good swarm-collector's tool, although of course, you'd take action before they swarmed for real, right?

Thank you itma. Clear advice as always. Will endeavour to follow it!