I have collected several swarms so far. I have 4 that I recently got that have virgin queens. I'd like to take a good portion of the bees from these swarms and use them to increase the population of some other hives for increased foraging numbers.
I can put these unmated queens in nucs and make sure they don't get robbed. The strongest flow here is just starting and robbing isn't an issue until it's over.
If I keep these swarms together they would go into single deeps or nuc boxes but if the queen fails to mate then these bees are not doing anything for me as far as honey production which is my biggest push this year.
The other thing I may try is removing the queens from a few of my colonies in about a week or so to see if this increases the honey production. I know this is highly debated but I think I may give it a try. It seems to make a lot of sense??
Thanks
Howard
I can put these unmated queens in nucs and make sure they don't get robbed. The strongest flow here is just starting and robbing isn't an issue until it's over.
If I keep these swarms together they would go into single deeps or nuc boxes but if the queen fails to mate then these bees are not doing anything for me as far as honey production which is my biggest push this year.
The other thing I may try is removing the queens from a few of my colonies in about a week or so to see if this increases the honey production. I know this is highly debated but I think I may give it a try. It seems to make a lot of sense??
Thanks
Howard