Have a one year old Russian hive a little overcrowded in 1 deep and 3 mediums.
Had a screened inner cover and telescoping top cover.
I removed the top cover and found A queen on top of the screen. Outside the hive. It could not get into the hive from the top.
I flipped the screen over and dumped the queen into the hive.
About an hour later the hive swarmed.
In hind sight what would you have done?
Hind sight
-
Kurt Bower
- Guard bee
- Posts: 692
- Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2004 2:04 pm
- Location: Julian, NC
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To be honest with everyone, it seems as if most beekeepers are unwilling to manage their hives on the front end before they swarm.
I believe a hive should be looked at every 10 days during the spring in order to watch for swarm signs and then do something about them to prevent swarming.
Most beekeepers seem content to let their bees fly away and end up losing their honey crop because of lack of management.
As for the queen and then a swarm in your case. It was inevitable.
Kurt
I believe a hive should be looked at every 10 days during the spring in order to watch for swarm signs and then do something about them to prevent swarming.
Most beekeepers seem content to let their bees fly away and end up losing their honey crop because of lack of management.
As for the queen and then a swarm in your case. It was inevitable.
Kurt
Thanks for the replies.
OK by the time I saw the queen it was too late, and dumping her in the hive was an OK thing to do, that was my narrow view question. A look at the bigger picture is I should have been more proactive about checking for signs of swarming.
I have a lot more to learn about swarming and will. As this is my second year I started with nucs last year, my focus needs to change. It was fun this spring as I was home a lot and was able to capture the swarms even though they were from my hives it was still fun. So I will not beat my self up if I don’t get honey AGAIN this year. I will eventually get there.
Notes:
Check every 10 days in the spring for signs of swarming.
Brood chamber congestion.
Back filling with nectar in the brood chamber or becoming nectar or honey bound.
Queen cells or swarm cells on the bottom of the frames might be too late at that point.
Keep the brood chamber open or get the queen to move up into the next hive body by moving frames of brood up and putting open frames in the brood nest.
Put up Russian sign.
OK by the time I saw the queen it was too late, and dumping her in the hive was an OK thing to do, that was my narrow view question. A look at the bigger picture is I should have been more proactive about checking for signs of swarming.
I have a lot more to learn about swarming and will. As this is my second year I started with nucs last year, my focus needs to change. It was fun this spring as I was home a lot and was able to capture the swarms even though they were from my hives it was still fun. So I will not beat my self up if I don’t get honey AGAIN this year. I will eventually get there.
Notes:
Check every 10 days in the spring for signs of swarming.
Brood chamber congestion.
Back filling with nectar in the brood chamber or becoming nectar or honey bound.
Queen cells or swarm cells on the bottom of the frames might be too late at that point.
Keep the brood chamber open or get the queen to move up into the next hive body by moving frames of brood up and putting open frames in the brood nest.
Put up Russian sign.