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Date: | Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:53:13 -0400 |
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I clip wings, the last few years I have just taken an angular cut on one
top wing so that it is still longer than the wing below, and leaving the
thicker 'veins' on the longer side. A couple times I've witnessed
queens flying a few feet at a time like that.
Results vary, since the hives are near the house I often find the queen;
most often she is within a foot or two of the hive. A few times she has
hopped to a low bush, a few times she has made it to a high branch.
Sometimes she has returned to the hive and a virgin has swarmed in a few
days, sometimes she has disappeared and the virgin swarms. The Russian
stock characteristics have dominated in my motley and diverse survivor
colonies. I have noticed that the Russian virgins are very tolerant of
each other, good when you are in Siberia I guess, but it makes for
multiple swarms and a greater age variation in swarm cells.
The best thing about clipping is what I call the lunch hour swarm. I
get home for lunch, see the swarm in progress or just landed, check for
a likely hive, find and cage the queen in a box with some brood comb,
and still have time to eat and get back to work on time. I come home
from work and release the queen at sundown and feed pollen substitute
and sugar paste. With 25 to 50 hives I get at least a few of those a
year, more than I usually lose that are too high to catch or completely
missed. Of course I also mark them, tho I stick to white since it's
easier to find in the grass. Next year I'm going to try clipping a
little less, tho I think age and weight variables are a major factor
too. Most of my swarms are from hives I'm deliberately crowding to get
queen cells, so I have an idea who to watch.
On 4/25/2011 11:03 AM, John & Christy Horton wrote:
> Speaking of this, I have wondered if one could cut the wings in such a
> way as to allow the queen to fly out but couldnt fly far so that it
> would be easy to find the swarm.
>
> John Horton
Carolyn in SC
http://community.webshots.com/user/woodwidgeon
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