282. Swarm control . . .

On Sunday we inspected the bees and found some queen cells; they were capped which means a swarm is imminent.

There are various options including doing nothing but that would mean you are likely to lose half of the bees when the old queen flies off with them.

Another option is an artificial swarm, and after midnight discussions with Sarah, that's what I tried today.

With one slight modification! We are unable to spot our Queen (v hard in 50 000+ bees when she is not marked) so rather than move the old queen as you are supposed I moved the queen cells.

Before the move  (empty WBC on left, full colony in National on right):-


I placed a new brood box to the right of the old colony, then smoked the old colony like mad hoping to drive the old queen down to the bottom of the hive. Then took the super off the old colony and placed it to one side. Then took the half brood box (containing the queen cells) and put it on top of the new brood box to the right. Put its roof on.

Finally I added the super back to the old colony and put its roof back on.


So, the WBC to the right has the queen cells, and a good deal of brood and a lot of stores.

And the National to the left (the old colony) has the old queen (hopefully), also some brood and the super so it also has stores. It will also get the foraging bees.

Not sure what is going to happen as I did notice when I moved the queen cells that a couple of them had already hatched. That would suggest the old queen has already gone but I don't think she has. Loads of bees.

It is quite complicated! I needed to lie down after I had done it, and I do again now after writing about it!

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