Removing the queen in swarm season to prevent a swarm ??

Flygirl · July 21, 2008, 10:06:27 PM

Another bee keeper told me today that she removes her queens at the start of swarm season to prevent the hive from swarming? Is this correct protocol?? I've never heard of this & I did search but couldn't find anything related to this topic.

It seems to me that if you remove the queen they would raise a new replacement queen? Wouldn't it upset the hive to remove the queen? Seems very disruptive ~ maybe I'm missing something??

Ideas or explanations from the seasoned beeks, please?

Thanks ~ FG

Bill W. · July 21, 2008, 10:10:14 PM

Why not remove the whole hive? That will definitely prevent swarming. :-D

Perhaps this is a strategy you could use if you were going to have to leave the hive unattended during build-up? I think I'd just prefer to give the bees more space and hope for the best.

Flygirl · July 21, 2008, 10:21:50 PM

HA! Good one Bill :)

I swear I didn't make this up ~ that's what she said. I also asked if she was maybe doing a split & she said "no". I felt really dumb like I didn't know what she was talking about ~ & I didn't but I guess that's a good thing :) FG

Bill W. · July 21, 2008, 10:35:53 PM

Maybe she was getting at the idea that an older queen is more likely to swarm? Was she talking about replacing the queen, or just removing her and putting her back later?

Ross · July 21, 2008, 10:38:18 PM

It sounds similar to a cut down split without the benefits. At least with the split you end up with a new hive and honey.

Kathyp · July 21, 2008, 10:55:59 PM

i have heard of beekeepers removing queens to increase honey production. makes some sense. if you have ever had a queenless hive you have observed that they pack in the honey. you'd have to have a way to keep the queens, or the expense of requeening would be a killer. or, keep one hive with a good queen and rob the brood for requeening.

seems like a lot of extra work for a small beekeeper?

DaveKow · July 22, 2008, 03:16:36 AM

This is from Micheal Bush's site, under splits:

"Confining the queen. Another variation on this is to just confine the queen two weeks before the flow so there is less brood to care for and free up nurse bees to forage. This also helps with Varroa as it skips a brood cycle or two. This is a good choice if you don't want more hives and you like the queen. You can put her in a regular cage or put her in a #5 hardware cloth push in cage to limit where she can lay. They will eventually chew under the hardware cloth cage, but it should set her back for a while. "