May in the apiary

What a horrible start of the year this has been. Rainy days and freezing nights then cold cloudy days. The bees are flying when the weather permits. It has been so difficult to get out to inspect the hives . The danger is some hives will be low on stores and some beekeepers have had to feed hives. Then the other side of the coin.. rapid expansion on bee numbers can trigger swarming.

This time of year is when swarming usually starts in earnest. From now until September hives need careful management to prevent the swarming of your  hives. remember to inspect your bees every seven to eight days. It is never more important than at this time of year. 

If your colony swarms, half of your workforce will fly away  which will seriously affect your honey crop for the year. You must remember that swarming is the bees natural instinct, and method of replication. Everyone has a hive swarm on them even the most experienced beekeeper!  Often it  is the sign of a healthy colony as the colony is growing too big for the hive.  You can try to control the bees urge to leave home, and you can also fool them into believing that they have by doing a split.

There are early signs that your colony is thinking of leaving the hive:

1. If the queen loses weight,  as the bees stop feeding her so that she can fly.

2. If the queen stops laying eggs.

3. The bees start forming Queen cells  with larvae and royal jelly in them. (They are known as play cups when empty.)

It only takes 8 days for a new egg destined to become a queen to be sealed after being laid, and it will emerge after another seven to eight days. Remember that once a swarm queen cell is sealed, the bees have made up their minds to leave. Removing cells may delay the swarming instinct but not stop it.

One method of swarm control is to perform an artificial swarm. This is done by reducing the queen cells to two really good looking ones. Some people suggest reducing to one, but I like an insurance policy in case one fails. You will need a spare hive and a complete set of brood frames with foundation. Place the new hive next to the old one. Remove one frame from the centre of the new hive and leave a gap. Find the queen in the original hive and lift the frame that she is on, complete with the bees. Place that frame in the gap between the frames in the new hive. Close the new hive up. Now close the frames in the old hive and place the last new frame at the back, or front, of the brood box in the old hive. Place the new hive in the position of the old one, and place the old hive at least 3 metres away. If needs be, strap it up before moving it. A diagramatic representation can be found following this link:  https://youtu.be/BCReKLV6CB4

For those who don’t know, you should only move a hive less than 3 feet, or more than 3 miles, or the flying  the bees will be confused. 

Moving it 3 metres (10 feet) should ensure that the foraging (flying bees) will not relocate to it. It can be moved closer to the original site by increments of 3 feet every other day. When all the older foraging bees leave the old hive, they will return to the new one, which is in the original position, because they consider the location, not the original hive, to be home, and they will rejoin their queen.

A second solution would be to create a nucleus colony. You can either use queen cells, or the existing queen. Bring the nucleus box adjacent to the hive. It should have new frames and foundation in. Remove the new frames. Open the hive and find the frame with the queen. Place that frame in the nucleus box. Lift two or three frames from the hive and shake the bees into the nucleus box. You will have difficulty putting too many in, as the foragers will fly home. Place a frame of brood next to the frame with the queen on and a frame of stores on the other side of it. You can then make up the remaining space with empty frames, but if cold, you will need to feed with thin syrup. 

Now place the nucleus box at least 3 metres away from the original hive. You may need to top up the bees the next day. The alternative is to use the frame with the queen cells, rather than the queen, but the original colony may decide to swarm again in a week or two. 

This method gives you a queenless colony and  a nucleus. You just need queens in both colonies to start laying eggs, It can take a few weeks for the new queen to emerege, be mated and started laying fully.  

The main reasons bees swarm is congestion. They need room for brood and stores. So give them room and hope they stay put! Of course the bees can always go no matter what the beekeeper does to try and prevent a swarm.

Good Luck.