I've been contacted by several people in the last few days off list about
the unique situation we have here in the eucalyptus areas of coastal
California, so I thought I'd write a summation now at the end of the
season. Unfortunately I'm not joking, unless we get rain that's not on the
forcast, that's it for us unless the bees are by irrigated plants.

In December I combined hives and requeened to get big populations,
restricted the hives to single brood chambers to get as much honey as
possible, and during Jan-March got a shallow super per hive from the good
locations every 2 weeks of flying weather. Then the bees started building
swarm cells as I mentioned here a few weeks ago. Then I divided the hives,
or made nucs from the frames with the swarm cells and added a second brood
chamber. Yesterday I went through about 40 hives, and there wasn't any
sign of queen cell building, so I think the answer to the question I asked
the list is that in these local circumstances, adding brood space will
stop the swarming urge. A friend who has 4 hives next to me, but didn't
requeen, had every one of his hives swarm within a few days of each other.

So now I'm sitting with hives (in those locations without irrigated
farmland or landscaping) with large populations and not much to forage,
which is the next problem I'll have to address. I suppose pollinating
would be the logical solution if I can find anyone who needs them around
here.

But at least I got a good harvest, and I think the key was new queens at
the end of the year, big populations in early January and a restricted
brood chamber until sometime in March.

Regards, and thanks for all the tips.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::