Modified Demaree-4/5/25

[Jacobs]

Modified Demaree-4-5-25_IMG_0093.jpg (24.22 KiB) Viewed 2055 times

I tried the modified Demaree method on one of my hives with the theory being the hive doesn't swarm and the large foraging force makes honey. My result is what may be the largest swarm ever to issue from one of my home hives. Swarm Commander on the front of my bait hive and some serious tanging brought the bees down. I have the marked queen in a clip and the bees in a new hive set up. My game plan is to have the bees draw out 2 10 frame mediums for living space, and if they are as large as they seem, to transfer the honey supers I had on the hive of origin. From the looks of the front of the origin hive, this was a significant de-populating event.

[reedyfork]

Oh, wow! Glad you were around to grab them. When you get a chance to explore the parent hive and theorize on what went "wrong", you'll have to tell us your setup and share what you find. I can only assume this is what would happen if you miss a swarm cell in the very beginning of the manipulation? The consolation is that you should get LOTS of new comb drawn now, and that big a swarm should give you honey too!

[Jacobs]

I've already posted about a second swarm from this hive, but today it issued what I thought was a large 3rd swarm. Swarm Commander and tanging brought it down at my poplar. I located the queen and got her in a clip, then scooped bees into the hive. Many weren't staying and were going back to the poplar. About 15 minutes later they had formed a small but decent cluster. I located another queen, got her in a clip, and put those bees into a nuc. I think I'll go looking in the original hive tomorrow to try and figure how they are making so many bees.