Many years ago I visited a commercial pollinators yard and the hives were
loaded with swarm cells. Got some great pictures.Plus, there was a nice
swarm in a tree, so another good picture.

I do not manage for swarms as I keep bees for pollinating my fruit trees
and garden. Plus I use the bees for my own apitherapy, as many who have
been around the list know. So honey is not even on my list except for
winter stores and gifts to family and friends. I manage for local
adaptation, so swarms are all for the good. Free queen mated with all the
local survivors or new blood from away.

Which set me wondering if the commercial apiary I visited was typical or do
commercial beekeepers manage for swarms, by which I mean the hobby
beekeepers practice of trying to prevent swarms at any cost? Swarms are
treated as "bad management".

I manage "swarms" by walk away splits during swarm season to replace any
dead outs from the winter which is not really swarm management but colony
management.My guess is that commercial beekeepers practice colony
management, not swarm management.

So, do commercial beekeepers try to prevent swarms like hobby beekeepers?

I did not try to define the term "swarm management" since it is more
methods and manipulation and there are many practices.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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