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I did a shook swarm today...

4K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  comb 
#1 ·
I have to share this and get some feedback. I've always been a fan of Richard Taylor and finally tried doing a shook swarm today for comb honey production.
It was a little different than his example as I used a colony that was in 3 mediums instead of 2 deeps. The new set up was a shallow w/foundation with an excluder on top...a medium box w/foundation..and 2 Ross Round supers.
The colony was a swarm I took from a crosswalk sign in Indy the night before the 500 last year. It was quite heavily populated when I opened it up today with lots of brood in every box. I was surprised that I only found one partially built queen cell.
The colony was moved off its regular spot and the new hive described above put in its place. Then one by one I removed a frame from the established colony's box's and shook one time onto a sheet placed in front of the new hive on the original spot. I was never able to find the queen, but am hoping that she got dislodged with the single firm shake that each frame got.
The original equipment containing lots of brood and the bee's that held on for that one shake are now behind the original location facing the opposite way.
Since I didn't see the queen I feel inclined to open up the new shallow super in a couple of weeks to check for brood.
This was really enjoyable...something new for me. It seemed to go well...having nothing to compare it with yet. The bee's seem to be just about back to regular business with many field bee's returning to the original spot. The colony with the brood got an entrance reducer to help discourage robbing and has bee's coming and going.
Now to wait and see how this turns out. Has anyone tried this in the classic Richard Taylor way? I'd like to hear about the experiences of those who have and any feedback about my procedures.
Thanks
 
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