Author Topic: Has anyone had any swarms issue out the hives yet ?? (Read 2662 times)

cloddopper · « **on:** April 13, 2015, 11:16:29 pm »

Has anyone had any swarms out of their hives this year ?

sss · « **Reply #1 on:** April 14, 2015, 07:44:24 am »

Not yet, had a couple of play cups on my first inspection, none on the second. Hopefully gets some queen cells soon so I can get splitting.

Caroline1 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 14, 2015, 03:15:21 pm »

No swarms, both my hives are still small. I think they have found it a bit tough being relocated over the winter.

Bionic · « **Reply #3 on:** April 14, 2015, 06:05:16 pm »

Not yet but I fear it won't be long

cloddopper · « **Reply #4 on:** April 15, 2015, 10:58:16 pm »

When I lived in East Anglia /Cambridgeshire at the NE end ( Guyhirn ) the earliest I got asked to collect a prime swarm was 10 April and the latest spring time prime swarm was the 21 st , so you should be busy this forthcoming weekend now the temps have started to rise again.

By now I'd usually split the bigger hives in each apiary and let the first queen less hive produce the new queen cells for all others.
I did that because being the strongest biggest initial hive it gave me the idea that this would be the best one to produce the new queens from ... it seemed to work as well.

Once formed I split the other hives & cut out the sealed queen cells save for one in the original hive and then in a few minutes had inserted them in the other new now already split off about half an hour previously queen less hives in the bottom of a frame that I'd cut a locating hole in .

Hanging the transferred QC's near the bottom of a frame of brood that I'd carved a locating hole in.. using a paper clip hook to hang it right . So you need to make a long tail of wax that you can play with rather than risk poking the enclosed queen with the paper clip & killing her.

VEG · « **Reply #5 on:** April 16, 2015, 08:22:59 pm »

None of mine showing signs of swarming but calls have started to come in about swarms in the area.

cloddopper · « **Reply #6 on:** April 18, 2015, 11:45:55 pm »

It could slow over the next few days as the temps are going to struggle to pass 10 oC ( 50 oF ) and it's going to be a bit windy they like a calm slightly humid day for swarming , also good for nectar flows . .
Best times are between 10.00 hrs and the heat of the day say 15.30 hrs. So if your a keeper who is on a collecting scheme /list with the fire service , police, council , old folks sheltered housing complexes & schools , get your shopping in in the morning.
I used to charge a minimun of £50 for all swarms collected from these bodies 7 if it required cutting access to them the price went up trememdously ..
The best priced job I negotiated was nearly £1200 inc vat .to remove a massive overwintering wasps nest that filled 15 bin bags of dead wasps & nest material . The room below had to have scaffolding set up and loads of planks &thick ply boards to support the ceiling as the wasps had eaten the wooden joists away . It has been supposedly " chemically killed " twice by Rentokill " and a lot of times by the council who owned the property .