swarm control - how long into the summer to watch for qc ?

[citrus]

so normal inspections every 6 days until WHEN ?

do you ever say ... "these bees will never swarm this time of the year" (famous last works) .... you say to yourself you have checked for queen cells and swarming evidence all spring/early summer .... at what point do you decide to leave them in peace (risking a qc the next week) ?

now I know bees dont necessarily respect calendars so I am looking for general historic advice ...

in my case as we head into mid june .. I have :-


1. Two hives that were very slow building up and were on my "worry" list ...... but are now going well but wondering how long I will continue to do regular inspections -
2. One big hive on double brood that hasn't shown any signs of qc's and seem to be happy ...

 

[enrico]

I wait until my main flows are over which is usually the end of July but to be fair I do get more relaxed as time goes on. I work on the debatable theory that once I have a new queen in a hive it won't swarm again that year. I like to control my swarms for everyone's sake but ......

 

[citrus]

I dont mark my queens and/or find them ......so do run the risk of over inspecting at this part of the year esp if the current queen that over wintered is a supercedure and there i am desperately looking for queen cells which never come !

.... part of the problem with the double brood hive ..... there are a lot of bees and supers ... it is a lot of frames to go thru so maybe I should just eyeball and not check every frame as the summer goes on

 

[ericbeaumont]

hasn't shown any signs of qc's and seem to be happy

Risky!

To gain peace of mind keep the brood nest open: take out a couple of frames of honey or pollen and add foundation to the edge of the nest.

Slot one into the middle of the nest; if the colony is strong, alternate two new frames. Add supers just before necessary.

Recipe will prevent maturity of the colony by giving them work to do. If they reach maturity, down goes the switch.

 

[user 20297]

I dont mark my queens and/or find them ......so do run the risk of over inspecting at this part of the year esp if the current queen that over wintered is a supercedure and there i am desperately looking for queen cells which never come !

.... part of the problem with the double brood hive ..... there are a lot of bees and supers ... it is a lot of frames to go thru so maybe I should just eyeball and not check every frame as the summer goes on

This year I have found to be true, the anecdotal (and obviously not foolproof) advice that swarm-cells will most often be found, amongst other places, on the bottom of the frames of a double-brood setup. Therefore your double brood might be a help; it's a relatively light inspection to put the supers on one side and to check a few of the frames that are at the centre of the brood nest.

I've even serendipitously found a few queens that way,and taken the opportunity to mark them.

 

[Sutty]

I'm finding that with double brood there are  usually queen cells visible on tilting the top brood box to see the bottom of the frames if there are any present - no guarantee of course!

 

[blackcloud]

I've found the swarm calls ease off( but don't actually cease) after the spring flow which is another indicator.
Don't trust them until Autumn feed though....

 

[Sutty]

I'm finding that with double brood there are  usually queen cells visible on tilting the top brood box to see the bottom of the frames if there are any present - no guarantee of course!

One of the benefits being that you know you are going to do the manipulation of your choice, and can start by looking for a nicely positioned good open QC immediately, then once selected you can shake bees off frames if needed.

 

[Ian123]

so normal inspections every 6 days until WHEN ?

do you ever say ... "these bees will never swarm this time of the year" (famous last works) .... you say to yourself you have checked for queen cells and swarming evidence all spring/early summer .... at what point do you decide to leave them in peace (risking a qc the next week) ?

now I know bees dont necessarily respect calendars so I am looking for general historic advice ...

in my case as we head into mid june .. I have :-


1. Two hives that were very slow building up and were on my "worry" list ...... but are now going well but wondering how long I will continue to do regular inspections -
2. One big hive on double brood that hasn't shown any signs of qc's and seem to be happy ...

As mentioned above my main flow finishes general third week in July or there about with the end of the Sweet Chestnut. Very very few make any sort of attempt after that.
So to your questions I’d suggest regular inspections till the end of the main flow in your area.
If you have a large hive doing well just give them space and that includes the brood box for her to lay.

 

[citrus]

I'm finding that with double brood there are  usually queen cells visible on tilting the top brood box to see the bottom of the frames if there are any present - no guarantee of course!

I think this is how commercials guys check their hives so quickly - ... go double brood early ... then the check is this tilt procedure ... be ideal with 2 of you ... one to lift the top brood box and one to check ...will have a go next week (not issues on todays morning check) with that process .... and also might limit the 'crushed bees' issue when making the hive back up ....

 

[Sutty]

I think this is how commercials guys check their hives so quickly - ... go double brood early ... then the check is this tilt procedure ... be ideal with 2 of you ... one to lift the top brood box and one to check ...will have a go next week (not issues on todays morning check) with that process .... and also might limit the 'crushed bees' issue when making the hive back up ....

You only need to slide the top box a few mm to make the tilt easy. Though I have vaguely wondered about a clamp on hinged bracket arrangement.

 

[ericbeaumont]

every 6 days

Why 6?

 

[drex]

I do the tilt inspection occasionally but find it clumsy. For a quick check I will just lift out a couple of frames from middle of nest in top box.