Swarm!

1. Swarm! Swarm Prevention & Swarm Management for the small apiary Charlie - A Presentation Template

2. Welcome to The Spring Charlie - A Presentation Template

3. Why not let them Swarm…it’s so natural! Your Swarm What you lose What they lose Varroa protection Goodwill Housing 20% Choices Honey Great Queen Your swarm will have to deal with Varroa on their own, and will, while they struggle, send Varroa-laden drift bees back to you and the area hives. They are not likely to survive the winter. Natural no more Losing a swarm means you lose the opportunity to make increase, or tons o’ honey, or sell the extra colony, or breed from that great overwintered queen. Opportunity Costs Charlie - A Presentation Template

4. The Why? And How? Of Swarming • Swarms are the way bees reproduce. • Any healthy, overwintered hive will WANT to swarm: they have to for the species to survive. • There is nothing wrong with or bad about the swarm impulse: • but you want to keep all your (expensive) bees! • A healthy overwintered hive begins to brood up small amounts in January/February/March • When the first nectar flows hit, they begin brooding at max rate • Once their hive gets crowded, various feedback loops signal: time to swarm (high brood pheromone, no room for queen to lay, increased CO2 levels) • Queen cups are made, usually on the bottom of frames. • Eggs are laid in the queen cups = queen cells • In 7 days the queen cells are capped and the swarm takes off • The swarm contains the old queen, and half the bees of all ages Charlie - A Presentation Template

5. Your Options: Prevent or Manage! Swarm Impulse Manage Prevent Room to lay QMP sticks Feeds Make queens Set them free… Force? Buy queens Try to head off the conditions that drive swarming: being crowded with new brood when the foragers are bringing in a lot of forage. Prevent When swarming is inevitable, manage it to your advantage. Manage Charlie - A Presentation Template

6. Swarm Timeline Sudden drop in lay Suddenly you notice there are a lot fewer eggs on the frames. Is the queen ok?? Backfilling Nectar begins to appear in the broodnest cells Queen cups appear Shallow, downward facing cups usually on the bottoms of frames. Drones are laid roughly 10+ days ahead of the queen cells Eggs in queen cups! Now we have outright queen cells! Swarm is 7 days away!!! 1st 2nd 3rd 4th SWARM! 2018 Drone Brood Charlie - A Presentation Template

7. 1/5 Drone Brood appears Drone Brood Drone brood is plump and bubble shaped…it looks like a puffy quilt top. Drones are typically laid in quantity about 10 days before queen cells are started. (because drones take longer to make… 24 days as opposed to the 16 days for queens) Both drones and queens must take a few days to mature before mating flights. Charlie - A Presentation Template

8. 2/5 Backfilling of nectar in the broodnest Backfilling with nectar Nectar flows support brood-rearing: there is plenty of food to feed those new baby bees! But. The queen needs cells to lay in. If the house bees are running out of room, they will start competing with the queen for room. Brood and nectar are adjacent. Times are good + home is crowded = time to swarm! Charlie - A Presentation Template

9. 3/5 Queen cups Appear Queen cups Laid toward the bottom or off the bottom of the frame. Stubby until an egg is laid. Open end faces down. A sign the worker bees are thinking of swarming. Charlie - A Presentation Template

10. 4/5 Queen slows down or stops laying eggs Lay rate drops A week or two ago, you saw big areas full of eggs. But suddenly, there are not so many, maybe none at all. Is there something wrong with the queen? The bees have stopped feeding her, getting her slimmed down, exercised, and ready to fly. Charlie - A Presentation Template

11. 5/5 Queen cupsbecome Queen Cells Queen Cells Day 1: an egg is laid in a queen cup. Once an egg is laid in a queen cup it becomes a queen cell. The swarm will leave when the new queen cells are capped. Queen cells are capped on Day 7!!! Get busy, beekeeper! Charlie - A Presentation Template

12. 1 Swarm Prevention Charlie - A Presentation Template

13. Swarm prevention: don’t give them a reason… Open up broodnest Give HRH empty drawn frames or waxed foundation beside and above brood area or reverse boxes. Slatted racks can also help. Equalize Give brood from strong hives to small hives…add empty frames to the strong hives. Pheromone sticks Adding queen mandibular pheromone sticks will help suppress the swarm impulse. Diet time! Stop or reduce feeding if hive is getting crowded and lots of food is coming in. Feeding drives swarming. Room/ Reversal Equalize QMP sticks Feeds Charlie - A Presentation Template

14. 2 Swarm Managementwhen prevention fails… Charlie - A Presentation Template

15. So Many ways to split…here are some easy ones Queen cells Buy a Queen Walk away or overnight split Take the queen out… Charlie - A Presentation Template

16. Important Warning! Do not make a little nuc up with some bees and eggs and ask it to make a queen! This traditional approach works, but not well, even when fed! Our cool summers don’t help. Charlie - A Presentation Template

17. Use your Queen Cells • When you see charged queen cups/queen cells, use them • Set up small colonies with at least 2 frames of bees and brood • Put one or two of the queen cells into each small colony • Feed (syrup & pollen sub) the colonies, as they are small and low on foragers • Check for a mated, laying queen in 30 days Charlie - A Presentation Template

18. Buy a Queen! • Set up a new hive and put into it at least 2 frames of bees and brood from a big hive, plus some stores. • Feed as there are not many foragers in the new hive. • After 4 hours, or overnight, introduce a purchased queen. • Check in 1 day to make sure she’s been released. • Check in 1 week to be sure she is laying. Charlie - A Presentation Template

19. Walk Away splits • Set up a second set of equipment next to your hive to be split • Give half the stores frames to the new stack. • Give half the brood and bees to the new stack. • Check in 3 days: one will have the laying queen, one will have queen cells, which you must cull down to 2. • Feed both stacks until the queen cells are sealed (day 7) Charlie - A Presentation Template

20. Overnight splits • Move all the open brood to an upper box, over a queen excluder. Shake all bees into the bottom box. • HRH, capped brood and all bees are below the queen excluder. • Overnight, the nurse bees will move up to cover brood. • Remove the top box onto its own stand, cover. • Monitor and cull the resulting queen cells in new colony. Charlie - A Presentation Template

21. Roy Thurber Split: take the old girl away • In a new hive or nuc setup put the queen and 2 or 3 frames of bees and brood + stores. Feed until established. • Her old colony, now queenless, will raise queen cells. Feed. • In 3 or 4 days, cull the queen cells to the 2 best. • Check in 30 days from splitting for a mated, laying queen. • This results in big, easy-to-find queens. Charlie - A Presentation Template

22. Points to Consider... Charlie - A Presentation Template

23. Things that make you go Hmmmmm…. Do you want more hives? 20% of queens die on their mating flights… Timing. Charlie - A Presentation Template

24. The Joy of Splitting The best thing about making splits is the great queens you get from them. You created this queen. You made sure she got the best start possible. And that sets your apiary up for…success. Home Grown Queens! Charlie - A Presentation Template