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Clipped Queens and Swarming

5K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  Mtn. Bee 
#1 ·
So through unknown reason about I ordered one of my queens clipped in a package I got last spring. The hive overwintered well and spring build-up has been going excellently... too excellent apparently. I opened up the colony yesterday to find many swarm cells. I only pulled a few frames, but one of the swarm cells I found was already capped. It will be Friday before I can work the hive again. What should I expect to happen when this clipped queen tries to swarm and can't? Could I prevent them from swarming by splitting? I had already made arrangements to split the colony, and it will be 3 WEEKS before my new queen arrives. Thx, guys.
 
#2 ·
Wait..back up. Split the hive now BEFORE they swarm. You don't need a queen if you have queen cells. Pull those frames that have the cells, put those in your split box and let it bee. The absence of the queen cells plus the loss of three or four frames of brood will knock out any inclination of swarming from your hive. Unless you are looking for some special type of queen by ordering one, you have a bunch ready in the hive now. You can save yourself the cost of that new queen, keep your hive from swarming and keep the production of your original hive up.
 
#4 ·
It may be better to put the old queen in one of the splits to make sure that they get the idea that they have "swarmed" and leave a queen cell in the original hive. If you see a pile of bees laying in front of your hive or one of your splits it will be the clipped queen which tried to swarm anyway covered by the little swarm. OMTCW
 
#7 ·
I have never believed clipping a queen bee's wings. If I clip one of your arms off, you will not function well, right?? A clipped queen will try to swarm anyway. You will find her crawling away from the front of the hive were she will usually end up as ant food. Then the colony will swarm with the first virgin that emerges. Thus defeating the purpose of a clipped queen. TK
 
#8 ·
I'm going to split them on Friday afternoon for sure. Most of the queen cells I found were uncapped. With that and the fact that the queen is clipped, I think it will take a while to coax her out of the hive. Here's to praying they will wait till then. :thumbsup:
 
#9 ·
If you are in two deeps and since you have cells present. You can split them in to six frame colonies as long as each of the splits has a new queen cell present. As for the queen, I would not even bother looking for her. Just be sure that all three splits are equal in strength and each has a queen cell present. Your bees that swarm early are your best, most productive and most resistant bees. This how we split and I am a commercial beekeeper. TK
 
#10 ·
Well I've had my girlfriend checking on my hives daily while I was out of town (they're at her house). So far she claims that they're behavior has been normal. But then again, she's no apiarist. Today's the big day. Hopefully when I go to make my split I won't find that half the bees are gone. I'll update later this afternoon.
 
#15 ·
I clip all my queens because I work a fulltime job and have a lot of outyards, which would result in lots of bees donated to the wild or other beeks.
When they swarm the clipped queen/swarm is usually under the bottom board or pallet and makes it easy to brush them into a nuc box.
I have also watched the swarm leave the hive and cluster in a nearby tree to shortly realize the queen did not follow them (clipped wing) and soon they would all return to the queen and me waiting with a nuc box (makes things a lot easier).
Remember to just clip the tip of one wing and not the entire wing or your arm off!
Doesn't hurt a thing and saves you lots of time to run more colonies instead of climbing trees! ;)
 
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