Transcript Urban Swarming and Swarm Control Paul Longwell Olympia Beekeepers May 2015 Why Control Swarming? Keep backyard beekeeping socially acceptable Honey for the bees and the beekeeper In my opinion, bait hives.

Urban Swarming
and Swarm Control
Paul Longwell
Olympia Beekeepers
May 2015
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Why Control Swarming?
Keep backyard
beekeeping socially
acceptable
Honey for the bees and the
beekeeper
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In my opinion, bait hives should be a part
of a modern up-to-date apiary during
swarm season. In particular, suburban
and urban beekeepers should use bait
hives near their apiaries to help keep
their swarms from causing problems.
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When Bees Swarm
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Humans marry and have children
Children leave the home to get married
Bees are different
The old mother leaves with some daughters
This is called a SWARM
They set out to build a new colony
The old nest is left intact for the new Queen
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Interesting Swarm Facts
• Most found swarms are within 170 feet of the original hive
• 80% of swarms perish
• Typically a swarm occurs between 10 am and 2 pm
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In many countries allowing hives to swarm is considered poor
beekeeping etiquette.
• In the United States catching swarms can be treated by some
like a free sample day at Costco.
• Swarms in urban areas are more likely to be within one or two
generations of the commercial bee strains and not feral bees.
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Known Hives around Me
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Types of Swarms
• Absconding Swarms
– The whole colony departs
• Lack of resources, unacceptable accommodations,
parasites…
• Reproductive Swarms
– Natures way of prospering
– Not enough room
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Conditions that Promote Swarming
• Decrease queen pheromone
– Last years queen
• Congestion
– Lack of open cells in the brood nest for the queen to
lay eggs
– Crowding – bees, nectar, and pollen
• Environmental conditions
– Resources -Abundance of nectar and pollen
– Weather - Sunny, warm, calm
• Genetic strain
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Timing Swarm Season
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Drone brood rearing begins 4-6 weeks prior to swarming
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4 weeks after dandelion bloom starts
(This year dandelion bloom started mid January)
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Apple blossom peak
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The warm calm day after the bees have been cooped up due to
inclement weather
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Swarming usually coincides with relatively good foraging periods
and tends to occur from March to June, with a peak in early April
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Hive Yearly Population Growth
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Impact of Swarming
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Swarming is Eminent
• If you see capped queen cells the colony has most
likely swarmed.
• If there are queen cells and no eggs the colony has
likely swarmed.
• Cutting out queen cells
• If you destroy all the queen cells you may end up with
no queen.
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Does not prevent swarming
Is labor intensive
Your colony may need one of those queens
DOES prevent secondary swarms
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Successful Swarm Prevention
starts before you see queen cells
• Provide room for the queen to lay within the
brood nest
• Provide room for pollen and nectar
• Provide the equivalent of 2 deeps for brood
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Swarm Prevention Methods (queen staying
with brood)
• Caging the queen - breaks the brood cycle
• Add drawn comb in the brood area (Checker
Boarding)
• Reversing brood boxes
– Do keep brood together with room to move up
– Don’t if it splits the brood
• Move frames of brood and nurse bees to a
weaker colony replace with empty drawn
comb
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Checker Boarding
Labor intensive and need extra frames of empty drawn comb. Start 2
months prior and repeat until end of the swarm season
Useful technique for Top Bar Hive
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Reversing Brood Boxes
YES
NO
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After using the preceding techniques to
build a strong colony,
Preempt the Swarm
• Separate the brood from the queen.
• A "true" swarm has an old queen, 20,000 or
so workforce of bees of all ages, and no
comb.
• An artificial swarm is typically the foragers,
the old queen, and empty comb.
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Swarm Prevention Methods
(separate queen from brood)
• Splits or nucs
(see resources)
• Demaree - preceded Snelgrove
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Set up is same as Snelgrove without SB
Queen cells are removed,
Every 7 days brood frames are moved up to top box and additional Queen cells
are removed
(see resources)
• Double Screen aka Snelgrove Board (SB)
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Provides the queen with extra laying space
Maintains all the bees at full strength in the hive,
Ultimately reunite as one colony with a new queen
Do not have to manipulate the hive after Day 1
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Double Screen Board aka Snelgrove Board
The bees’ scent and heat pass through the entire hive via a patch of mesh in
the center of the Snelgrove board, however the queen pheromones do not.
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Snelgrove Board
3 (4) pairs of entrances
Each pair has an entrance
above and below the board
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Basic Swarm Prevention Split
• On the original hive location
– 1 frame - the old queen with brood, honey, and pollen
(no queen cells)
– Drawn comb or foundation
• Move the parent hive to a new location
– Brood, honey and pollen
– Wait 1-3 days then introduce fertile queen
– If they have to make their own queen you will loose 2-3
weeks of brood production
• May need to rebalance the number of foragers or
brood in the hives
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Taranov
4
inches
honeybeesuite.com
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Taranov Board
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Bearing the name of it's Russian inventor, this device allows a shook swarm to be made, with
the queen, which can then be hived in the same apiary. Bees will not return to the original
site, but will behave like a natural swarm.
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It consists of a sloping board, about 16” wide, which is arranged to slope up from the
ground, to a point approximately level with the hive entrance and about 4” away from it.
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A sheet is laid on the board, to increase the area, a little back from
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the top edge and the bees are shaken from the frames onto the board.
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The bees should be brushed from any frame with a queen cell you wish to keep. Most of the
older bees, cross the gap back into the hive. Mostly younger bees, with the queen, form a
cluster below the top edge of the board. It helps if a piece of Hessian, or burlap, is fixed to
this part to give the bees some grip.
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When the cluster is well formed, which takes 60 - 90 minutes, The board can be carried away
and the swarm hived elsewhere in the apiary.
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A drawback to this operation, is that the hive needs to be on a stand of some sort. If your
hive is low to the ground, it will need blocking up 10“ or more.
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Swarm Bandit
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Be Prepared
Have spare equipment available
which is clean and serviceable
Check your hives every 7 to 9 days
Act as soon as queen cells are seen with eggs
as otherwise the honey crop will be lost.
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Remember
•Swarms are natural but they should not happen
so pre-empt them
•Swarms are bad publicity public panic and local authorities could ban bees
•Swarms for increase –
this was the ancient skep tradition
•Increase by crude splits if no other skills or time
(for queens over 3 years of age)
•Spare equipment – you need spare hive’s or nuc’s
•Avoid using prolific bees (eg Italians)
in a small size hive (top-Bar Golden Mean style)
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Bees do what Bees do
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Swarm in a Tree
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Swarm Trap
Swarm being hived
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Here’s what’s in my swarm kit
Copy paper box
Duck tape
White sheet
#8 hardware cloth
Queen catcher
Sling Shot
30 lb fishing line with 3oz weight
Expandable pole with bucket
Pruners
Lemon grass or Swarm Commander
Bait hive with old brood comb
Collapsible ladder
Bee suit
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Use of Sling Shot for swarm removal
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Contact Gayle if you are a Swarm
gatherer!
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Swarm Hot Line
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360-515-1068
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References
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Walt Wright
http://www.knology.net/~k4vb/all%20walt%20articles.htm
Michael Bush
http://www.bushfarms.com
Honeybee suite
http://www.honeybeesuite.com
Beesource
http://www.beesource.com
David Cushman
http://www.davecushman.net
Beeworks
http://www.beeworks.com
Pnwhoneybeesurvey http://www.pnwhoneybeesurvey.com
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