1. Session 7 - Swarming Sat 5 th /Sun 6 th April 2013

2.  Bob Needs  26 years experience  Bee migration  Queen rearing  Morphometry  B.I.B.B.A. member

3.  Natural means of colony reproduction  Colony too crowded  Unbalanced colony  Queen getting old  Absconding

4.  A week before actual event  Eggs in Queen cells  Queen cells sealed  Old Queen ready to fly off  Prime Swarm

5.  Prime Swarm – half the workers  Casts – Virgin Queen plus progressively less workers  Viability of Casts ?  Viability of parent colony ?

6. Colony swarms Main nectar flow Foragers lost from parent colony

7.  Regular Inspections - weekly  Young Queens < 2 years old  Room in brood space for Queen to lay  Room in super space for nectar to be stored  Know what to do when Queen cells are seen with eggs or larvae  Mark & clip Queen ensures any swarm returns to hive

9.  Swarm is not lost  Workers return to hive  Queen may return to hive  Beekeeper must still take action

10.  The Artificial Swarm  Many methods  Colony acts as if it has swarmed  Use of the Nucleus

11.  Colony made up of 3 parts:  Queen  Brood  Flying bees

12.  Swarm control involves separating one of the three parts from the other two:  Queen from Brood and Flying Bees  Brood from Queen and Flying Bees  Flying Bees from Queen and Brood

13. Original Stand B Super A Find Queen on a frame Check for and destroy all Queen Cells Move frame with Queen on to BOX B Fill BOX B with drawn and foundation frames Q New box B Examine all frames Remove all sealed Q Cells Leave 2 open Q Cells containing a grub Stage 1 – Day 1 Flying Bees

14. Original Stand B Super A Move BOX A to other side of BOX B Q New box B Q Cells now sealed Stage 2 – Day 7 Examine all frames Remove all Q Cells 0 0 Feeder

15. Original Stand B Super A Q Stage 3 – Day 14 Feeder Flying Bees from both Boxes A & B Strengthen foraging force Virgin Q flies out to mate First VQ to emerge attempts to kills other VQs Do not open BOX A For 3 weeks After a further week check for Q Cells

16.  Rest nearby  Trees, hedges, posts etc.  Scout bees look for home  Collective agreement  Fly off  Popular sites  Chimneys  Roof spaces  Compost buckets etc.

17.  Obtain appropriate insurance  Obtain permission from the landowner  Ensure the public are kept away from the swarm  Retrieve the queen and the rest will follow  Move the bees into a box  Invert the box near the swarm  Wait for all the bees to join the queen  Take away and re-hive the swarm

19.  In front of hive  Directly into a box  Check for diseases  Feed after 2 days