SPM

[GLOCK]

SWARM PREVENTION MANAGEMENT what do you do?
Me last year I flipped my brood boxes in early spring then took brood frames {2} from the center gave them blanks  in the beginning of MAY then pulled the queens at the end of MAY  made nucs requeened all my DBL. deeps {or 3 deeps}  and ad a deep {I use only deeps}for honey had a great honey crop. So I ended up with 10 nucs 10 new queens and lots of honey. that's what I'm rolling with this year also.
good luck.

[Perry]

I'm going to be selling nucs this year so swarming because of congestion shouldn't be an issue. Some hives just like to throw them in the spring no matter what, so I just keep an eye on them as best I can, and break them down if I catch them getting ready.

[Crofter]

Unlike Perry, I will not be working on deliberately making splits. I have about 3 more hives now than I really want.

I have been pondering keeping the queen in the lower box with an excluder and pulling brood from there up to the upper box. Those combs can be replaced with foundation or foundationless frames I have . When the bees start backfilling I will pull the queens out into nuc.s on mostly foundation to get comb drawn.
Upper entrancees  with a small opening in the bottom for drones to escape.

Cant make too many hard and fast plans till I see how  much empty equipment I have in the spring! I do want to re queen everything again this summer.

Hopefully tecumseh will tell us a bit about his intensive management methods he has made allusions to.

[Barbarian]

When Spring comes I will be looking to see if I have a colony that is expanding more than the others. This could be a likely swarming colony.

One of the options could be to use selected frames of brood to boost a weaker colony. Another, more likely option, would be to make the colony queenless and use it as a rearer colony for Q cells using eggs from a selected breeder queen.

I was taught that a swarm is unlikely to leave a hive until they have sealed Q cells. By regularly checking a hive every 7 to 10 days in the swarming season, you look out for Q cells. If you find Q cells then it's a manipulation to prevent a loss of a swarm.

[Jen]

Siiiiiigh! I will be able to converse with this step in beekeeping after I make my first split this spring. I'm excited and a little terrified as well.

For the time being, should I let the bees make a new queen, or should I buy a queen for my split?

[Crofter]

Barbarian, what and when is your first bloom ? here it is dandelion about middle to third week May. Clover mid June.

I will have to be checking for queen cells for certain. I hope to select and do some cell punch rearing but it may be the same as last year that started queen cells I had to deal with gave me all the queens I needed and more.

If anyone has clues that a person could use previous to actual cell building it would be a big plus. Weather last year kept me away from timely inspections; I got lucky and only had one swarm (that I know of) and managed to catch and re hive. This year with mostly overwintered double deeps and not planning to split will put a lot more pressure on me to keep them out of the trees.

I may try one hive on a Snelgrove divider just for the heck of it but as I think you mentioned it is probably way too much work when you have to break down the hive for inspections of the bottom brood.

[Barbarian]

Jen  ----- Would you like to post your question in "A Good Idea" in 101 ? In that way other members can benefit from the "home raised" versus "bought in" comments.

If you don't wish to do that, send me a PM and I will respond.

Crofter ----- I will respond in due course.

[LazyBkpr]

This year will be splits early if I can get them built up early enough. New vsh queens coming for the splits.
   Normally, I do pretty much exactly what Glock does.  I rotate combs, placing two to four Empty frames in each brood box, normally I pull the outside frames. They are well drawn but empty in the spring giving the bees room to build and providing me with GOOD drawn comb to use with swarms or new hives. I will also add one or two supers depending on the strength of the hive to make them feel less restricted.
  If I have a BOOMING colony I am worried about, I will likely make a nuc from them to thin their numbers slightly, and let them make a queen from eggs I choose. If they appear to be preparing to swarm I will make a nuc with the original queen and requeen the main hive with a purchased local queen.  IF they have produced queen cells, I may split that hive down to however many cells they have built and put them all in Nuc's to emerge.
   I guess swarm management is mostly about having a plan, and being prepared to toss said plan aside and make a new plan on the spot.

[Marbees]

Since I'm a long distance keeper (once a week in my yards) I'll be making an even splits, first week of May.
Ordered queens, Pope Canyon among others (have to try) These are VSH Northern California Carniolian survivors mated with North Quebec Italians.

[Jen]

Lazy- ""New vsh queens coming for the splits.""

What is vsh queens?

Keeping you guys on your toes with the acronyms!

[Crofter]

Varroa  Sensing Hygenic  I think. They smell the presence of mites under cell cappings and uncap and haul out the larvae.

[LazyBkpr]

Yep, Crofter nailed it.. VSH is just one of the names given to bees that actively pull mite infested brood. Varoa Sensitive Hygienic, another is Minnesota Hygienic, and there are others as well..

[Jen]

Sooo can I get a vsh queen for my split this spring?

 Where do I go to to purchase a vsh queen?

[LazyBkpr]

I would talk to the local beekeepers first, if that fails go online and search. there are a few sites that list VSH stock. This is what i did, but I cant recomend the place i ordered mine from because i dont have them and cant vouch for any of their traits yet..  Iddee can put you in contact with the folks that have his "Wayne's Bees" or if you prefer a more northern raised bee you should be able to find breeders in a similar climate.

[Barbarian]

I have heard it said that a hive will not think of swarming until there are mature drones present.

To ease congestion in the brood nest, I sometimes scrape some of the cappings in the honey arch around the brood area on a frame. Hopefully the bees will move the stores and use the empty cells for brood rearing.

In my area we have a floral clock for swarming. When the Common Hawthorn starts flowering, it's time to be ready for swarms.

[tecumseh]

a lot of expectation are built into the language and I would suggest that you talk control and not prevention.  as stated you are setting yourself up to be highly disappointed.

just like (I assume) northern beekeeper set up a hive going into winter a similar manipulation to create exactly the opposite purpose should be performed in the spring time.  in the first you are packing the brood nest and in the latter you are 'opening up the brood nest'.  for me sometimes the spring time manipulation take place in a couple of steps often times several weeks apart.  reversing boxes and cleaning off the bottom board and making a decision about a hive PURPOSE for this season is typically step one.  not so long afterward I then employ queen excluders much like (but not exactly) Jerry Hayes did in his article 'Is a Queen Excluder a Honey Excluder'.

what Barbarian call the 'honey arch' here is sometimes referred to as a 'honey cap'.  these can be a quite often a symptom in a hive that has recently swarmed.  there are several ways to deal with this but the one Barbarian mentions is likely the choice of options that is least subject to creating other problems.

[Jen]

Bar-
""To ease congestion in the brood nest, I sometimes scrape some of the cappings in the honey arch around the brood area on a frame. Hopefully the bees will move the stores and use the empty cells for brood rearing.""

That's an interesting idea!

""In my area we have a floral clock for swarming. When the Common Hawthorn starts flowering, it's time to be ready for swarms.""

Is this a clock your own doing/charting for your own area?