>From: "Jeffrey R. Tooker" <[log in to unmask]>
>Date:         Sun, 19 May 1996 09:58:46 -0700
>Subject:      Swarming
 
>I am concerned about my hive (1) swarming.  I only get up to it every
>couple of weeks.  This is where I am at present.
 
>I started with a four frame nuc.(new queen) in a deep body, with six frames of
>foundation, and fed all the 1/1 syrup they would take (about a quart a
>day).  In two weeks they were working hard on the tenth frame, so I put
>on a ten frame super, no excluder.  The last I knew the bees were still
>taking a lot of syrup and a lot of the bees were foraging and were coming
>back with pollen that I could see.  There is no flow on now but the bees
>seem to be doing O.K.  I am trying to get them built up by the first of
>July when the star thistle flow should start.
 
Hello Jeffery,
 
In your area swarming season should be just about over, not saying that
bees can't swarm anytime, but if you have a young queen and the bees are
doing well, lots of brood, pollen and some nectar, maybe it's time to
add a super or two and wait for that Star Thistle flow. You can quit
feeding them if they have a frame or two of honey as you don't want your
honey to taste,,,yuck like sugar, God forbid..
 
>It seems by what I read my best solution might be to split the hive then
>recombine the two at the end of the year.  If yes then when and how?
 
If you want increase or just have the protection of having a 2nd hive
just in case, yes you can make a divide. It will cost you in surplus
honey production for your first hive when the main flow starts. But with
it still a month or more away you may get lucky..
 
One way to do that is first find the queen in the old hive as you
don't want to have her end up in the new hive or divide. Have a 2nd
hive body or a 4 or 5 frame nuc box add one frame of honey & bees, and
two or three frames of heavy brood as much sealed with the bees adhering
to these frames, and one young queen from your local supplier. One of
the best is Oliver Hill (don't have his address in hand but he is off
of highway 5 at Williams I think, don't quote me on that). And I believe
you are close enough to him to pick one up are your way up to your
cabin. In any case it is always better to pick up your bees and queens
from the bee breeder if at all possible. Also its one of the best ways
to pick up on a few tricks that may be helpful in keeping your bees
productive. No beekeeper knows too many other beekeepers and much of
what is is know about hands on beekeeping has never been put in any book
or taught at any school. All us old beekeepers hold back a little when
talking with reporters, authors, and bee academics. Don't know why, just
something to do with the law's of nature and protecting the craft. Same
as all real beekeepers have one of those "bee" buckles holding up their
pants and are always easy to spot in a group of real people as are
bee women with their bee pins. All this you can confirm with the real
OLd Drone, Dr. Roger Morse still hanging out at Cornell but retired I
hear.
 
Make up the divide as above, add the queen, making sure the cork is out
of the candy hole. Place the queen between two frames of brood below the
wood top bar, candy hole down at a angle to the brood combs to
minimize the increased space between the two combs because of the
cage. Close up the hive and don't mess with it for a week or two. If you
can not move the hive to a new location most of the older bees you
transferred with the combs will fly back. You can overcome this loss by
shaking a couple of frames of hatching brood with young bees into the
divide when you make it, or close up the hive entrance with several
layers of masking tape which should take them several days to chew their
way out, by then more bees should have hatched out and the older bees
that return to the old site will not be missed. Another easy way is to
place the new hive in the same place the old hive was and move the old
hive a few feet away. This way you will bee getting the majority of the
field bees in your new hive and be sure the candy in the queen cage is
significant enough to keep the bees from releasing the queen for a day
or two as these older bees do not look to kindly on a new queen and
will take a day or two to acquire the new hive odor. If you do it this
way you are coming closer to a real 50/50 divide and it will take
several weeks for the old hive to come back to the strength it was
depending on how much brood you left with it, and you would need to use
a real hive body for your divide and not a nuc box as it will need the
room much faster. Both methods work better if there is a light honey
flow. With two hives you will have to be more cautious with feeding them
to prevent one from robbing the other out. You can reduce the entrance
to a few inches as they don't need it wide open until the weather turns
real hot depending on your location.
 
                         Good Luck, ttul Andy-
 
 
 
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