approach to spring management

[goose]

This is only my 3rd year keeping bees, so I'm trying to get a grasp on spring management. This question might be too involved, but maybe some of you can help::confused:

What's your approach to managing your hives to prevent swarming? I've split some of mine, but I still have plenty of new queen cells showing up in my hives, not to mention drones, too. Is going through the frames and cutting queen cells a generally good idea to prevent swarming, assuming the current queen is good?

And, how acceptable is swarming? I realize it's not totally preventable, but do you chalk it up as an acceptable loss and go on about your business and maybe you'll get to catch a swarm or two? Or, do you persistently try to prevent your hives from swarming while also trying to let them build up?

Thanks for any help - just hope I'll be as ready as I can for the flows

[Michael Bush]

>What's your approach to managing your hives to prevent swarming? I've split some of mine, but I still have plenty of new queen cells showing up in my hives, not to mention drones, too. Is going through the frames and cutting queen cells a generally good idea to prevent swarming, assuming the current queen is good?

IMO destroying queen cells is a good way to end up queenless, and a poor way to control swarming. Odds are by the time you find the queen cells they already swarmed, and cutting them out will leave them queenless. If they HAVEN'T already swarmed, they will simply rebuild them. By the time you have queen cells, you may as well do a split. The object is to avoid getting to that point.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesswarmcontrol.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesexperiment.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm

[tecumseh]

well first off swarming is what a good hive of bees does. it will happen at the most inappropriate time which means 'your best' queen is now hanging in the trees. if the bees would just agree to doing this thing on my schedule, then we could all get along.

the first thing 'to know and do' in regards to spring management is what you have in that tall stack of boxes (feed and bees). it is my habit to clean bottom boards (typically before bees build up much but after pollen patties are gone) early while shoving all brood, bees and feed to the bottom of the stack. this gives me a much clearer understanding of exactly how much empty space I have in the hive and there is no confusion in regards to bees clustered in the middle or top of the box. this also gives your a cleaner picture of 'initial condition' (feed, bees, brood).

hives that begin the swarming impulse early I split into smaller units (allowing at least one natural cell per hives). keeping supers (especially drawn comb) on the hive and slightly ahead of the flow is established means of limiting swarming. opening up the brood nest by moving empty (drawn) frames in or about the cluster (brood area) will prevent the brood nest from getting too congested (and thereby limiting the queens laying up space) and should also limit swarming (I suspect this problem is a much more prevalent source of the swarming urge than most folks might think).

[Michael Palmer]

[QUOTE=Michael Bush;303828 IMO destroying queen cells is a good way to end up queenless, and a poor way to control swarming. Odds are by the time you find the queen cells they already swarmed, and cutting them out will leave them queenless. If they HAVEN'T already swarmed, they will simply rebuild them. By the time you have queen cells, you may as well do a split. The object is to avoid getting to that point.[/QUOTE]

I guess that depends on the age of the cells. Colonies won't usually swarm until they have sealed cells. If your colony has quen cups with eggs, or very young larvae, they haven't swarmed. If all the cells are young, unsealed cells, they haven't swarmed. In those cases, cutting cells is appropriate.

You can often tell if a colony has swarmed. It will have many older, sealed cells. Look at the frames of emerging brood. When the bees hatch, and the cells are polished, the queen will re-lay in those cells. Look there for eggs. If you find none, the colony has most likely swarmed. Of course, if they swarmed this morning, it won't be so obvious.

But, I agree...just cutting the cells out will accomplish nothing...unless you take care of the reason they are making the cells.

I think the biggest trigger for swarming is nectar being put in comb space where brood is hatching. This comb space is where the queen is going to lay. But, if for a number of reasons there is nectar going in those cells, the queene competes for the space, the bees feel crowded, or whatever, and swarming impulse takes over.

If you manage the colony correctly, that competition is taken care of, and the colony continues to build up. I manage that situation by timely supering, and reversing the broodnest. I add two mediums when I see the first Dandelion flowers. I use no excluders. This allows the cluster to move up. Nectar...and a bit of brood...are placed in the supers, freeing up the main broodnest. Then, when the Dandelion flow starts, I reverse the broodnest. This places empty brood comb above the main broodnest, and once again the bees can "move up." If at reversing I see young cells, I cut them out. With proper supering after this manipulation, and once the flow starts, swarming is forgotten by most colonies. Then, only those colonies that persist in their swarming preparations are split, or whatever it is that you do to control swarming. I feel that there's no reason to split every strong colony because a few will persist in their desire to swarm.

Swarming is a requeening method of some colonies. Some supercede to have a new queen, some swarm. Those that persist in swarming after proper supering/reversing/supering are requeened.

[Dan Williamson]

Make bigger splits. This can help alot. I've split crowded double deeps in half and made 2x the honey crop. It's a timing thing! (Before they start swarm prep but still have alot of bees in the box).

Instead of 5 frame nucs or whatever size splits you make... take 6-8 frames.

Making splits too early can result in the bees getting crowded again before the main honeyflow hits... doing it too late can result in a swarm.

Timing is the key to most things in Bee Management (in my humble opinion.)

A swarm AFTER the main honeyflow isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'd prefer they didn't... BUT you do end up with a free queen. You've already gotten your honeycrop and you'll realize it's not the end of the world.

IF it happens BEFORE your main honeyflow and/or splits... then you probably won't have much to show for your efforts that year with that particular colony.

Did I mention timing?;)

[HVH]

I would highly recommend "Swarming, Its Control and Prevention" by L.E. Snelgrove. I applied his methods to 50 colonies last year and had one swarm late in the season. The Snelgrove method requires the fabrication of a Snelgrove board, which is a fancy double screen board with multiple entrances (open and closed positions) to the hive above and below. I keep the double screen board (DSB) on the hive year around because it doubles as an upper entrance. Actually, I hate having a bunch of useless hive contraptions but this is one I will never do without. The DSB helps in raising queens, starting two queen colonies, overwintering nucs above an established hive, providing ventilation, moving hives, and separating flying bees from hive bees. The downside, is that the manipulation takes time. It took me 3 full days to manipulate 50 hives, but I think I got rewarded in honey and by not chasing after a bunch of swarms.
I just started running about half of my colonies with two queens last year. I have read that two queen colonies are less likely to swarm. Last year the two queen colonies brought in more honey than I have ever seen in my apiary. The Ross Rounds and Bee-O-Pacs were filled to completion in every super and the medium deeps yielded a large excess of honey over the single queen colonies. Have any of you experience the same? And if so, what are your thoughts regarding swarming from two queen colonies?

[Jim Fischer]

On the issue of queen cells and other "evidence of intent to swarm,
pay close attention to what Mike PALMER wrote. His observations
are (as usual) accurate.

There's cause to be happy when one must split colonies to cut down
on the swarming. There's nothing wrong with splitting a colony 3
or even 4 ways if it is bursting at the seams.

But anyone who claims that they can eliminate swarming is a liar,
or is the owner of some weak, sickly colonies, most likely ones that
have suffered from Nosema from day one and were untreated due
to ignorance or willful refusal on the part of the beekeeper to use
tested and approved methods to deal with Nosema.

So, if you never have any swarms, your bees are weak/sick.
You can cut down on swarms, but never 100%.
Swarms are "reproduction" for bee colonies, nothing less.
Swarm traps and pheromone lures are a good investment.

Learning how to feed colonies and then make early splits is the
path to success, as making one's splits before the spring blooms
allows those splits to build up on the blooms, rather than forcing
you to feed them during the post-bloom dearth. It also gives you
strong colonies, as they are fed and built up FOR the bloom, rather
than ON the bloom. Net honey harvests are larger as a result, and
colonies are stronger for pollination.