Agriculture Reference
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Throughout the entire next morning, everything within the hive appeared status quo.
But come mid-afternoon, at approximately the same time as the day before, I saw the
tornado of bees on the move again. They swarmed in a completely new direction and
farther and higher than the previous day. And this time I did not have the good fortune
to see where they'd landed. I called Mr. B to tell him the sad news.
Mr. B chuckled at my story and told me I had done the right thing trying to capture
a swarm, but that you cannot return a queen and half the colony to the same hive. In-
stead,Ishouldhaveputtheswarminanew,unoccupiedhive.WhenIhadtriedtoreturn
the queen and her followers to their hive, they swarmed again because that colony had
already prepared for this dramatic event by raising a new virgin queen. After further
observation, I was able to locate the swarm cells at the bottom of the frame.
Mr. B explained the only real way to prevent it from happening again was to clip
one of the queen's wings, so she could not take off. This seemed drastic, though I was
assured it did not hurt her in any way. Another thing beekeepers do to keep the queen
inside is trap her in a wired plaque, thus preventing her from moving around the hive. I
now know to watch for another swarm each spring and have a fresh hive ready for my
swarming colonies, just in case.
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