Swarming
and Swarm Control
Belfast and District Beekeepers
March 2013
Alan Jones
1
Swarm in a Tree
2
All living things have only two priorities
A
To preserve their genes
B
To pass on their genes to the next generation
All living things develop or evolve strategies
to achieve these objectives
Success means the specie survives
Failure means extinction
3
All living creatures react to stimuli
Stress is a danger to the survival of a specie
Swarming is one result of stress stimuli
So stress leads to Swarming
(and Absconding)
4
Triggers To Stress
a) Starvation (or threatened)
following end of nectar flow or bad weather
b) Congestion or overcrowding
c) Lack of queen substance
d) Heavy varroa infestation
e) Opulent or over powerful colony
5
Triggers To Stress continued
f) Disease or poisoning
g) Queen too old – more than 3 years
h) Damaged queen
i) Isolation from queen
NB. Some sub-species (races) and strains
because of evolution or selection or breeding
are very sensitive to triggers
ie. swarmy bees
6
Hive Yearly Population Growth
7
When Bees Swarm
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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
8
Impact of Swarming
9
Swarm Prevention
is the avoidance of triggers giving rise to stress
Good Husbandry is the Answer
Prevention is better than collecting swarms
Therefore:
Use a non-swarmy strain
(avoid using swarms from an unknown source)
Kill Queens in the Swarms you collect
and Replace with your own bred Queens
Use young queens – less than 3 years of age
Mark and Clip your Queens
10
11
Swarm Prevention continued
Give plenty of room – in good time
Replace old comb or frames of food
with drawn comb or foundation in brood box
so giving queen room to lay
Pre-empt the bees’ need for working space
So when bees are working on outer combs of
brood box place a super on the hive
12
Plus
•
•
•
•
Stimulative fondant feed in early February
Feed in Summer if necessary
Avoid too much interference
Treat regularly as and when necessary to
control varroa
but only use effective treatments
Select or buy bees from non-swarmy strains
13
14
Be Prepared
Have spare equipment available
which is clean and serviceable
Check your hives every 7 to 9 days
Only every 9 days if the Queen is Clipped
Act as soon as queen cells are seen with eggs
as otherwise the honey crop will be lost.
15
16
17
Swarm Control
when Queen cells have larvae in them
Queen
Brood
Foraging Bees
All swarm controls remove one of these
Move Queen on frame to nuc box
Move brood to new box
Move hive to one side
18
Actions
a) Destroy or “knock-down” queen cells.
Every cell must be found!
Bees would probably make emergency queen cells
And have swarmed before you return a week later
b) Split the colony – place Queen into nuc box
c) Artificial Swarm – remove brood to new box
NB
a) Very occasionally works
b) Often works
c) Nearly always works
For both methods in August kill the old queen
and unite the colonies if no increase required
19
20
21
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 or nucleus
•Avoid using prolific bees (eg Italians)
in a small hive (eg Nationals, WBCs)
22
Prime Swarm = 1st swarm to leave
has nearly always the old queen
Cast = subsequent swarms with a virgin queen.
Late casts unlikely to survive the Winter
Unmanaged colonies may swarm themselves to death
Swarms spread bad genes, varroa and disease.
Swarms are not for beginners –
as there are usually old queens in swarms
23
Supersedure occurs in about 10% of colonies
Always lookout for a second Queen
Old and new queen often present on same frame
SO NEW BEEKEEPERS
Buy a Nucleus –
your confidence grows as the hive grows
24
The cause of most swarms
can be found at home
when
you
look into a mirror
25
It is beekeepers
who allow swarms.
SO
be a BEEKEEPER
NOT a keeper of bees
26
THE
ARTIFICIAL SWARM
And a
Simple Method of
Raising New Queens
27
•Start
( May/June)
A
•Step 1
A
•Step 2
B
A
28
Go and have a cup of
tea or coffee
at the same time
decide whether you want to
increase the number of your hives
29
All the foraging bees have gone to B
Only nurse bees left in A
Look through box to find the Queen
Place her and frame she is on in B
make sure there are no queen cells on this frame
Go through all frames in A and mark one with
an open queen cell with a big fat well fed grub
KNOCK DOWN ALL OTHER CELLS
Close hives and leave for a week
30
•Step 3
•Step 4
•B
•A
•A
•B
Leave A for 3 weeks before inspecting.
Add supers to B if necessary
Unite in August keeping the queen from A
31
Uniting Two Colonies
Squige the queen you do not want in B
She should be marked as she is the old one
Place a newspaper over the brood box
Cut a few slits with your hive tool
Place brood box
A
B
with new queen on top
Set queen excluder on
Add all supers from both hives
32