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Wed, 23 Jun 1999 11:13:36 -0400 |
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ACB Dept., Univ of Michigan |
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Aaron Morris wrote:
> I still check my hives for signs of impending
> swarms, but now when I find hives in imminent swarm condition I don't bother to
> attempt to keep the bees at home, rather, I split the hive into as many nucs as
> I am able to make up using the swarm cells at hand.
I did this too this year with a good colony that started many swarm cells. I
broke it down into 7 nucs, each with at least 1 or 2 swarm cells, plus a small
split with the original queen and no swarm cells. I stacked the nucs on the
original stand, since I operate my hives with multiple openings in all brood
chambers anyway, and bees continued to go in and out into all the nucs.
However, after two weeks when I examined the nucs, every one of them had torn down
the swarm cells and were busily storing nectar in all available cells. I decided
to reunite the "nucs" and restore the original colony. I was sort of surprised
that they didn't raise a single queen from all those swarm cells. I wonder if I
had taken the nucs away and distributed them in other yards if they would have
done the same. Any thoughts, Aaron or anyone else?
Ted Fischer
Dexter, Michigan USA
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