Preventing a Swarm

[Marion]

Made a complete hive inspection Saturday in my 8 frame hive and noticed how healthy the hive was. They were even working the honey super to 3/4 full. I remember last year about this time our local hive inspector warned us that our hives were about to swarm. Either make splits or go up. I went up and both hives swarmed anyway! Had to buy new queens. This year I decided to read up on preventing swarms and decided to checkerboard. In the bottom deep I kept 2 frames of brood next to each other and replaced 2 frames with foundation frames. Like this: BBEBBEBB (B=brood, E=empty). I put the frames I took out in a nuc box making sure there was a mix of capped and uncapped brood. In the upper deep I took out 3 frames like this: BEBBEBEB. One of the frames had capped honey on one side and opened as well as pollen on the other side. I also put another honey super on top. I am feeling confident that they now have enough to keep them too busy to swarm.

Had to order more hive parts for the bees I took out and put in the nuc box. Should be here today or tomorrow. Then I will have to paint them. I was not ready to make another hive! When I get the hive together I will have 5 frames of a mix of all stages of bees. I am going into my white hive Monday and I can take out t3 more frames if the hive looks swarmy. Then I will have my 8 frames to complete the third hive. I will buy  a queen for this third hive.

Feeling confident. 
 

[Perry]

  Well done. Just remember, like all things bees, just because they have plenty of room doesn't mean they will not swarm. It helps to have lots of room, but sometimes bees can be just like Jack, stubborn, and without common sense.

[brooksbeefarm]

New queens usually won't swarm the first year. In years past i would put 3 supers on when the dandelions was in full bloom, but not nowaday, if i put to many supers on the shb move in and take over the hive. You probably don't have those little devils that far north (YET) and i hope you don't! Lost a nuc last week to them, it was queenless and had two queen cells with lots of workers and brood that i made up.I hadn't checked on it in 3 weeks to let them do their thing and when i took the lid off YUCK! thousands of shb larva crawling around on the frames and piled up on the bottom board.Bees are women like Squirt, and they have a tea party and decide in the winter they are going to swarm and like knucklehead said, if they have a mind to swarm  they probably will. The best way i've found to stop them is to find the queen and put her in a nuc with a couple of frames of brood , frame of honey and a empty comb frame, leave two queen cells in the mother hive (make up nuc's with the other queen cells or cut them out) and wait  Jack

[riverbee]

marion, well i see perry is picking on jack, and jack starts picking on me (i'm the squirt he's referring to)............

anyway..........sometimes i can get away with going up, most times i take a couple frames out (make nucs) and give them more space up.
also like jack said, first year queens usually won't swarm........but............

i don't checkerboard, but i also will add foundation (don't split up the brood) and will add space above. also, where did you place any honey/pollen frames in the bottom brood box?

[Marion]

Riverbee, I put them on the outside edge.