Fellow Beekeepers,
 
I originated the recent discussion on the Taranov Board and a lot of
information on it has now come into my possession from different sources,
the salient points of which I am showing below. I take this opportunity of
thanking all those who contributed to my little knowledge of beekeeping.
 
The Taranov Board is named after its inventor G F Taranov a Russian
Beekeeper. The following article was published by him in the Russian
Magazine entitled 'Pchelovdstvo' in 1947.
 
 
'The artificial separation of the swarming bees from the parent colony'
 
Taranov found the consecutive links leading to swarming were:
 
1. Excess of nurse bees (idle bees which hang together in free spaces).
 
2. Active swarming bees.
 
3. Reduction in egg laying.
 
4. (Leading to) accumulation of swarming bees.
 
5. Issue of swarm.
 
The 'swarm' bees may be from 1 to 21 days old, but physiologically they are
all young bees which have not fed brood nor secreted wax. The question was
how to separate the swarming bees from the others?.
 
For this, Taranov devised a special hiving board. It consisted of two boards
50 cm long and the width of the alighting board. They are fashioned together
at one end, and at the other there are two supports of a height to bring the
top edge of the upper board level with the front edge of the alighting
board. A rounded piece of wood is fixed under the upper board at the open
end of the board and another somewhat lower down. These help to keep the
swarm steady when the cluster is moved. A rope is tied to the supports, by
which one can lift the bees and board, and hang in the shade until hived in
early evening.
 
The board is placed with the upper end of the slope 10cm away from the front
edge of the alighting board. A sack or cloth is placed on the ground at the
other (lower) end. This has been found to speed up the process.
 
The first comb of bees is shaken on to the lower end of the board - some
falling on the cloth. Successive combs are shaken gradually further and
further from the board. The bees move up the board and on reaching its
limits, the 'swarm' bees go under the board accompanied by the queen. The
'non-swarmers' fly across the 10cm gap and enter the hive.
 
It goes without saying that a comb with a single selected queen cell is left
to provide a new queen and this must not be shaken. The bees are carefully
removed by brushing with a bee brush or goose feather.
 
 
There is a slight variation of this system advocated by Donald Sims in his
book 'Sixty Years with Bees'. This is it.
 
'Select and set aside e.g. in a nucleus box, a comb covered with bees on
which there is a good advanced queen cell. Make certain that the queen is
not on this comb. One way to be certain of this, if one cannot otherwise be
sure, is to brush (not shake) the bees off the comb back into the hive and
put the comb temporarily in a box above an excluder (on any colony) and wait
a short while for young bees to come up and cover it.
 
Next move the brood chamber to one side, and in its place set a floorboard
and an empty brood box. Then put the Taranov board in position and spread a
cloth over it or put the cloth down first. (The cloth is merely to increase
the area on to which bees may be safely shaken by covering the ground on
each side of the board). Now shake all of the bees including the queen, on
to the board. Destroy all queen cells on each comb as shaken, and place the
shaken combs in the new box on the old stand in the same order and facing
the same way as before. Repeat with the combs in the second brood box if
there are two, using the first brood box (now empty), as the upper brood box
of the new hive for the reception of the shaken combs. Leave a space in the
middle for the comb first taken (which will by now be covered with bees if
it has been put over another colony), and put this comb with its queen cell
and bees in its place. Add the excluder and supers if any, that were on the
colony, plus inner cover and roof. Then leave the bees to sort themselves out.
 
A Taranov swarm, just like a natural swarm, will be in good condition to
draw foundation if fed.'
 
 
 
 
If anyone can further add to or comment on the above, I would be most grateful.
 
I am only a beginner, and have not yet used the Taranov system, but I am
anxious to try it next year.
 
 
Best wishes to all
 
Tom Barrett
49 South Park
Foxrock
Dublin 18
Ireland
 
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