Questions for swarm catchers

[Les]

Of those of you that have caught a few swarms that weren’t your own – how many marked queens do you get as a ratio to the number of swarms and what colour do you mark them if you mark them?

 

[VEG]

Caught one with a yellow mark this year nice big swarm. I used to use a white pen to mark all mine but found it wears off, so I am using a bright pink one now it is soooo easy to spot the queens now lol. Doesn't matter what colour you use just as long as you keep notes to say what year the queen is from.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Caught one with a yellow mark this year nice big swarm. I used to use a white pen to mark all mine but found it wears off, so I am using a bright pink one now it is soooo easy to spot the queens now lol. Doesn't matter what colour you use just as long as you keep notes to say what year the queen is from.

walked a yellow one in and saw her run over the top of the workers and also have seen a few white ones though most unmarked or thin virgins

 

[Mike a]

Since I started collecting swarms a few years ago now I've haven't had a single marked queen in 30-40 swarms. If I marked my queens I would use a pot of paint they do some nice luminous colours orange/red, day glow yellow.

 

[oliver90owner]

how many marked queens do you get

That may depend on location and whether all or fewer local beeks mark their queens or whether primes and casts are used in the calculation (casts should surely be omitted from any calculated result?. I don't think I have caught a marked queen and I wouldn't generally be marking them anyway. Certainly collected swarms which have emanated from managed colonies.

 

[Outlander]

Being a swarm catcher of, oh about three days now with one swarm under my belt and one that flew just before I got there, I couldn’t really tell you but will in a few years time if you get back to me.

I see the lynch mob have let you live then Olly.

 

[Queens59]

Never, nada, none, 1-1, zero...

 

[susbees]

One last year...one this (mine ). And a marked, clipped one out of a garage wall 50m from the hive...also mine. Hmm...

So almost none.

 

[oliver90owner]

I see the lynch mob have let you live then Olly.

They don't trouble me. They are more a problem for Admin. If you only write the truth, there is little need to lie about it later.

Their recent post-count might be considerable, but their helpful posts is likely close to zero, I would think for most of them individually - and possibly for the lot of them put together. Questions might arise of usefulness, honesty and manners.

 

[Outlander]

I'm still selling the T-shirts if you want one. £14.99 in the blue corner

 

[Andy Duff]

I see the lynch mob have let you live then Olly.

They don't trouble me. They are more a problem for Admin. If you only write the truth, there is little need to lie about it later.

Their recent post-count might be considerable, but their helpful posts is likely close to zero, I would think for most of them individually - and possibly for the lot of them put together. Questions might arise of usefulness, honesty and manners.

Bloomin' right and keep up the good work

 

[oliver90owner]

Thanks Andy. I appreciate that.

 

[Chris Luck]

I find it quite pleasant RAB that there is someone more abrasive than me.

Errr, swarms, never had a marked Queen in a collected one yet and obviously I don't mark them.

Chris

 

[tonybloke]

been collecting swarms for 4 years now, about 40 or so collected, not one marked queen (that I've noticed)

 

[masterBK]

Perhaps beekeepers who can't find queens (to mark) also can't find or don't look for queen cells. They then supply the neighbourhood with swarms for the rest of us to collect. Only joking! Over the last 40 years I reckon I collect about 15 swarms a year (I'm on the council swarm, collectors list) Of these, about one swarm per year is marked. This year, most of the swarms collected (even the big ones) were headed up by virgins so obviously not marked. Interestingly, the swarms with marked queens tend to have much lower numbers of varroa ( I treat all swarms with oxalic acid about 4 days after hiving them) suggesting that beekeepers who mark queens also control Varroa more effectively. However this is arguably not significant with such low numbers of swarms involved.

 

[Chris Luck]

Perhaps most bee keepers simply don't mark their Queens.

I only know a couple of French keepers that do although I suspect some of the Brits in France may be more inclined to but that's speculation.

Chris

 

[oliver90owner]

MasterBK,

You are making a few wrong assumptions. I would expect you are judging all swarms as lost by some beekeepers who do not mark their queens (I must presume you to be in your chosen group). A very large and easily flawed assumption - you may have a lot of feral colonies you are not aware of in the vicinity.

A question might be as to the actual level of varroa - unless close to or exceeding the damage theshold, there may be some beeks out there that are simply not 'over-medicating' their colonies.

Your comment about even big ones with virgins might mean there is a commercial(?) beek close by, with all clipped queens but still loses swarms. Or a commercial beek supplying clipped queens to the local new beeks?

It seems to me to be the level of experience, not a function of marked or not marked, which is a more likely factor. For instance, how do these careful queen-markers manage to lose their queens so easily?

 

[tonybloke]

and not to mention the many local feral colonies that issue swarms, their queens are never marked ( unless they were marked before they went feral, and swarmed again)

 

[eleanor20]

I have collected 3 swarms so not a massive sample size. Of those one was not marked and the other 2 were the same marked queen!