> < Looking at your hive every six days is creating the situation for your
>bees to swarm, at the start of spring your whole hive should be inspected
>for swarming cells and the state of your hive, then if you keep placing more
>supers on this hive, you are allowing the bees to store nectar and return to
>you.>
>I think it is not wise for David Goble to generalise.  Climates, flora and
>seasons vary from country to country.  What may work in Australia certainly
>would not work here.  We have a swarming season extending over two months,
>May and June, and one early inspection will not tell us that the bees intend
>swarming in three weeks time.  Piling on the supers is not much help if
>nothing is coming in.
>This spring poor health and poor weather combined  to make me ignore routine
>inspections. Since my bees are normally of a non-swarming strain I trusted
>them to behave.  It was not to be.  Three swarms in three days and a hasty
>check revealed three more almost ready to go.  This is an abnormal situation
>and is happening to many beekeepers.  Freak cold weather conditions have
>kept the bees out of the supers and in the broodchambers, causing
>congestion.  Experts tell us that congestion leads to unequal or
>insufficient distribution of queen pheromone, leading to an urge to swarm.
>Whatever the reason, the bees have gone crazy, more so because the weather
>is so unsuitable for swarming.  One sunny day to drive them out, followed by
>four days of cold and wet, as happened recently, means that some swarms that
>got away will probably starve.  A classic example of blind instinct where,
>for once, the bees have got it wrong.  Tough on the virgins left behind as
>there is so little mating weather.
>
>As regards whether inspections cause stress, I do not know.  I do know from
>many trials that a routine inspection for cells carried out around midday or
>early afternoon during  a nectar flow causes a loss of  four to six pounds
>of nectar for that day but the next day everything from the work point of
>view is back to normal.  This is a small price to pay if it prevents the
>loss of a swarm.                       Sid P.
>_________________________________________________________________
>Sid Pullinger                    Email :  [log in to unmask]
>36, Grange Rd                Compuserve:  [log in to unmask]
>Alresford
>Hants SO24 9HF
>England
>
Hi Sid,
 
        A swarm will stay in the hive, if there is no honey or pollen, as
the queen will be retarded from laying the number of eggs owing to the poor
supply of nectar. That is no crowding, no swarm.
Thanks from :
                        [log in to unmask]
                 http://www.eastend.com.au/~goble
            [log in to unmask] ( David Goble )
           American Beach Kangaroo Island South Australia