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Inside the Hive May 2018 + Swarm Control Tips

by David Hocutt

What a pleasure it is to walk in the apiary this time of year.  As I near my hives I catch a waft of nectar being condensed. The smell of it brings the relief of finally realizing the bees have made it through another winter. What a joyous time of the year to be a beekeeper!  So many flowers, so many bees.  Hive entrances bustling with frenzied activity. Just wonderful.

Inspections reveal what my mind suspected.  The bees have recovered from the setback of late February and March.  Several full frames of sealed brood in nearly every hive. Large populations depending on the race of bees you have.  I noticed the Italian bees are more advanced in population than the Carniolans, but the Carniolans are coming on strong. They are building up very quickly.  Time to closely watch the population and take swarm control measures as they become necessary.

Taking swarm control measures is an interesting topic on its own. Sometimes swarming is difficult to control. Here are a few tips that I find are helpful:

1- Equalize the bee population throughout all of your hives. If you have a very strong hive and a weak hive, first determine why the hive is weak.  Barring the presence of any diseases or other noteworthy condition, take a frame or two of sealed brood from the strong hive and place it into the weak hive in order to boost the weak hive’s population. Replace the removed frames with empty drawn comb frames to allow areas for the queen to lay.  Try and make all of your hives populations the same.

2-Look carefully for queen cells. Once you determine there is are queen cells present at or near the bottom of the frames, you need to make a significant split or a complete divide of these hives. Handle the frames with the queen cells very carefully and use them either to produce a queen for the original colony or a queen for the new split or divide. A case could be made for either. Personally, I would use the original queen for the new split or divide as that more simulates a natural swarm has occurred. Only you have controlled it. Better for you and better for the bees.

3-Watch for a honey bound situation. If the bees fill up brood area frames with honey, there is no where for the queen to lay eggs. When this begins to happen, swarming in imminent. Keep a careful watch and replace honey bound frames with empty drawn comb as soon as possible. Waiting to see what happens is not advisable because when there are honey bound frames swarming is imminent. You will need to be ready to catch a swarm or call someone to catch a swarm.

4-Have extra equipment available. You may need to house a swarm if it occurs.

Swarming may occur anytime especially during the next four to six weeks.  Swarms usually land within two hundred feet of the hive they issued from and can occur on almost any object anywhere from ground level up to thirty or forty feet high. If you see one you are not comfortable retrieving, please do not hesitate to seek the assistance of a more experienced beekeeper. Breaking an arm or leg trying to retrieve a high swarm that is difficult to reach will not be profitable in the long run. Much cheaper to watch to swarm fly away than end up with a hospital stay.

In the hive bees are bringing in nectar, pollen, water, and propolis now. You can not control nectar, pollen, or propolis. But you can make certain there is a water supply near the hives. This will make for better neighbors and the bees need more water than you probably realize.

Interesting to note that after examining fifteen hives, all seeming to be very strong, that I only found two queen cells, both within the same hive. Not swarm cells, but supercedure cells, not at the bottom of a frame, but on the upper portion of the frame. There were plenty of eggs, open brood and lots of capped brood in the hive. Clearly the queen that was present in the hive is not failing. Maybe the bees in the hive know something or can detect something I am not able to.  That is why they are bees. They are working hard and making ready for the main honey flow which is about to start.

There is industry inside the hive.

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