Hi,

Still learning. This is my fourth year. It's kinda tough to figure out 
how and what to do without a mentor present or to observe in his/her 
yard. I do belong to our regional and state organizations, but folks are 
working or are in the beeyard. Yup, me too. Last year I read in one of 
the journals about a Master Beekeeper who saw his first swarm. That's 
crazy. It takes experience to be a master. Anyone can study and pass a 
test. So I keep getting experiences, I keep reading, and I don't get 
much honey.

I hope this year is better. My question is...I've down-sized my some of 
my colonies and have supers on (some with comb supers, some with 
extracting supers). I think I need to do the shook swarm manipulation so 
I get good comb honey. The honey flow started in earnest this past week. 
I've had two swarms from a couple of my hives in the last 3 or 4 days. 
I've reversed locations of a few hives. Even with the honey flow 
started, would it be advisable to do a shook swarm now on some of my 
hives?  I realize I am late. I hope to be able to rectify this.

What else am I doing? Keeping records of the bloom cycle and honey 
plants. Keeping records of basic weather conditions. Jot simple notes of 
what I did in the bee yards that day. Rereading, reviewing, and 
rereading various beekeeping books. I've removed a colony from an old 
farmhouse. There are two other old homes with bee colonies waiting for 
retrieval.  Plus there are five or six or is it maybe 10 locations of 
wild bees in trees, which await my bait swarm catcher installations. I 
have a couple of hives to pick up next week from pollination in apples. 
Bears and bear fence installations have given me unexpected education. 
Setting up and maintaining 4 or 5 out apiaries is interesting, 
especially with the rising gasoline prices. And sugar dusting the 
colonies...they look like little bee "ghosts".

Oh, yes, I read all of Randy O's articles in the journals, on the web, 
and his posts here. I wish he'd have a "The New Beekeeping " book on the 
market.

Back to shook swarming. I work the next three days 12 hour shifts. I can 
do one hive per day after work, if that's what it takes. Am I too late 
this year for shook swarming techniques? Maybe it would be better to 
just go for extracted honey this year? My honey will be expensive this year.

Thank you for any replies.
Alf Bashore
Danville PA

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