And now, for something completely different,  a novel method for suppressing swarming:


An effective anti-swarming method is to schedule
a split in the bee colony at an appropriate time so
as to prevent overcrowding. However, this treatment is
labour and time-consuming. Nevertheless, the initiation
of the swarming mood can be only delayed and partially
managed by making colony splits. 

This study emphasizes the fact that an unequal
amount of energy fixed in the male and the female
biomass is needed for the distribution of the same
nurse gene copy by a male or a female individual. Gene
copies of the investing individuals can be distributed
from the maternal colony both, by swarms consisting of
the female biomass (mother and workers) and the male
biomass (drones).

To suppress the swarming mood, we used a deliberate
increase in production of the male biomass which
compensates for a potential swarm in energy demand
and the volume of distributed genes. We tested in this
case whether the bee colonies refrain from the swarming.

During the replacement of the winter long-lived workers’
generation by the spring short-lived and obviously
strengthening colonies (second half of April), two hive
frames for building the drone cells were inserted into the center
of a brood box. From both sides, these frames were followed
by at least two combs with workers’ brood. This setup
optimises the temperature for the drone brood. While
the frames were built and egg-laid, two more frames were
added into the second brood box according to the same
principles. After the end of the swarming period (around
10–15 July) the building frames with the drone brood were
removed and processed to wax.

During the seven years (2003–2009) of the application of
described method (with antiswarming breeding of drones)
at 60 bee colonies we observed swarming only twice
when the method was not strictly followed. In the past
for the same number of bee colonies, when the standard
method of colony splits was applied, an average
of 15 swarms per year was recorded. Honey production
in non-swarmed colonies has increased approximately
by about 30%, while the production of wax increased
by about 40%. The time needed for the maintaining
of one bee colony has decreased from the average
160 minutes to about 60 minutes.

The effect of induced changes in sexual asymmetry of honey bees
(Apis mellifera) on swarming behaviour
Roman Linhart, et al
Biologia 66/3: 535—542, 2011

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