This is my second year in beekeeping. I keep my bees in my small garden
surrounded by neighbours. I presently have 4 hives and I have arranged to
ship 2 of them to an out apiary when the season starts (April in Ireland).
 
I have no doubt but that I am facing swarming this year. What I was thinking
of was, is it possible to force the bees to build queen cells, create
artificial swarms and get most of the swarming over with in my timetable
rather than in theirs?
 
Then I can relax about the manipulations (desirable in my environment), and
the chances of additional swarms must be reduced. Has anybody got an
organised system in operation to handle this type of situation?
 
On another topic:
 
I read that vibration really annoys bees. They appear to pick up the
vibrations through their feet. What I was thinking of was to put a thick
sheet of foam rubber under the hives to dampen down the vibrations caused by
neighbours' lawn mowers. Any comments on the merits or otherwise of this?
 
Thanks for any help
 
Sincerely
Tom Barrett
49 South Park
Foxrock
Dublin 18
Ireland
 
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Tel + 353 1 289 5269
Fax + 353 1 289 9940
 
Latitude  53 Deg 16' 12.8" North
Longitude 06 Deg  9' 44.9" West