Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
2.
If your bees have swarmed and you destroy the remaining queen cells, you will
have destroyed their best chance of raising another queen. Soon you won't have a
colony at all.
3.
Finding queen cells to destroy is a tricky business. You are likely to miss one,
especially in a large colony, and if you miss one your bees will swarm anyway.
Work with your bees, not against them, and consign these primitive old practices to the
dustbin where they belong. One notable beekeeper, C.C. Miller of the USA, said early
in the twentieth century that 'if a colony disposed to swarm should be blown up with
dynamite, it would probably not swarm again, but its usefulness as a honey gathering
unit would be somewhat impaired'. Clipping wings, placing queen excluders over the
entrance and destroying queen cells have the same effect. There are better ways that
work in the direction the bees want to go, so why not use them?
Methods to prevent swarming
Good swarm-prevention methods should reduce swarming with a low degree of colony
interference and should be compatible with good colony management for both pleasure
and profit. It goes without saying that a very good method is to obtain a strain of bees
that has a lower tendency to swarm. This is, of course, not always possible but, if you
are in a position to use this method and still keep your beekeeping pleasurable and
profitable, don't dismiss it. When considering your swarm-control strategy, try to think
in terms of employing the following manipulations in conjunction with each other, not
as isolated examples.
Re-queening annually (or at least every two years)
This is one of the best methods for limiting swarming in your colonies, especially if you
are a commercial beekeeper and have perhaps thousands of hives. It is difficult under
these circumstances to keep such a close eye on matters but, if you re-queen annually,
you will at least know that even in your absence the number of colonies swarming in
your bee yards will be low. For a beekeeper with only a few colonies it is an easy method
to employ.
