On to swarm prevention. Despite the fact that swarming is a completely natural form of reproduction for the bees, once it happens, a bee keeper now has two small hives. While he waits on each hive to build up their workforce to preswarm numbers, he has lost a significant amount of time of honey production.
A new queen won't get the urge in her first year, but by the following spring, that natural instinct will kick in. Once she knows it's time to get ready, she will lay several eggs that will be fed royal jelly and form into queen pupa.
Queen cells are very easy to identify since they are so large. The developing queen will be to large to fit in a regular cell. When you see what often looks like a peanut hanging on the side of the comb, you've found it.
Swarm season will be at different times during the spring depending on the climate where you live. If you are not sure when this time is, just ask another bee keeper in your area or check with a local association. Once you have this info, you can start prevention procedure a few weeks ahead of time.
Remove queen cells as you see them being developed. All you need to do is cut them off with your hive tool. When you identify a hive as a potential swarmer by locating the queen cells, you can make 'splits'. A split is simply dividing the hive in half yourself. This way you can control the situation better and you will wind up keeping all of your bees. Otherwise, if you don't happen to be in the bee yard when they get ready to go on their own and aren't able to catch them, you've just lost half a hive.
A full frame of brood and a frame of honey.
Swarm season will be at different times during the spring depending on the climate where you live. If you are not sure when this time is, just ask another bee keeper in your area or check with a local association. Once you have this info, you can start prevention procedure a few weeks ahead of time.
Remove queen cells as you see them being developed. All you need to do is cut them off with your hive tool. When you identify a hive as a potential swarmer by locating the queen cells, you can make 'splits'. A split is simply dividing the hive in half yourself. This way you can control the situation better and you will wind up keeping all of your bees. Otherwise, if you don't happen to be in the bee yard when they get ready to go on their own and aren't able to catch them, you've just lost half a hive.
'Starter hives' are placed in a smaller hive box called a nucleus or a 'nuc'. They will hold 3-5 frames each. In order to sustain a split, you will need to remove one or two frames of brood from a healthy hive to put into the nuc. You will also need a frame of honey so they will have food right away. Add two frames of drawn comb so the queen will have place to start laying (or you can add two frames of honey and one of drawn comb, it is not an exact science). Making a split does require a bit of planning because you will have to aquire an additional queen. These can easily be ordered from most bee suppliers and will be shipped to you thru regular mail here in the US.
A full frame of brood and a frame of honey.When the new bees emerge from the comb that came from a different hive, the bees will stay where they are and not go to the original hive. When they are born, they know their queen's pheromone and will know that is where they belong. As the young colony grows, eventually place them in a full size hive box.
Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7
No comments:
Post a Comment