CloverKnollFarms
Super Member
My neighbor had three clumps of bees on his property yesterday, so he caught them in two separate boxes. Today I'm going over to help him determine how many colonies he actually caught...
Beekeeping
- Thread starter LittleBittyBigJohn
- Start date
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ponytug
Super Member
That's pretty funny!My neighbor had three clumps of bees on his property yesterday, so he caught them in two separate boxes. Today I'm going over to help him determine how many colonies he actually caught...
CloverKnollFarms
Super Member
Watched a swarm move into a swarm box today. Really fun to see. That makes swarm #4. Had three buddies catch them this week too!
ponytug
Super Member
Great year for bees, which has to be great news.
All the best, Peter
All the best, Peter
CloverKnollFarms
Super Member
I'm usually pretty successful with swarms. I'll have plenty of honey for me and maybe 120 pounds to sell
Do you have a sense of how many of your hives swarm in a given spring? I assume you just move a follower board to give them room to grow, but otherwise don't take any prevention measures?
My (previously) strongest hive still doesn't show signs of a queen. The existing bees aren't backfilling the lower box of the brood nest and appear to be polishing cells, so I'm hoping there's a virgin queen soon to be laying. It's been several weeks since there's been any brood.
CloverKnollFarms
Super Member
Every colony is different... But maybe 50% swarm. I don't try to prevent it, as swarming has numerous health benefits for a colony. Even if my bees have ample room, they will still swarm, it's rarely a lack of physical space.
After several weeks with no brood, the queen may very well be a late bloomer... The threat is a laying worker becoming active. Keep us posted.
I am two weeks post queen emergence in two of my hives, and I have 6 day old larvae already... The weather has also not been the best for mating flights... So at three weeks I'd be getting a little nervous.
