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ocba - Re: [ocba] Swarm prevention splits?

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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Liz Lindsey <liz.lindsey AT duke.edu>
  • To: Ellis Driver <ellisdriver AT gmail.com>, NC Beekeepers Orange County <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Swarm prevention splits?
  • Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2014 12:55:50 +0000

Ellis,


Conrats on a healthy hive! Sounds like you have a lot of queens and no reason to go buy one. I'd try making a split. If you can't find original queen, then put queen cells in each split, and eggs in each as well just in case. But do try hard to find original queen, and move her to the new place. That will mimic what they're about to do naturally. Remember that the bees in the original place will have foragers coming back, and the split in a new place will not have foragers, so keep that in mind when "halving" the population. Try to get bees of all ages in both spaces if possible.


Good luck!


-Liz






From: ocba <ocba-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org> on behalf of Ellis Driver <ellisdriver AT gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2014 10:29 PM
To: NC Beekeepers Orange County
Subject: [ocba] Swarm prevention splits?
 
Hello!

I have a 2 deep hive that has filled one honey super and is working on the second.  They have no mites or beetles and have been strong ever since I got this package last year.  I noticed about a dozen swarm cells yesterday though, and a few that were capped.  It seems like I don't have a lot of time and i was thinking about doing my first split.  

I heard you can get all the frames with swarm cells in one super and leave the queen in the other and put them facing each other on the original spot, then rotate.  That is my current plan but I am wondering if people have had success with this or if i should just purchase a queen ASAP but it seems like I might not have time.  Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks so much,

Ellis



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