How late in the season will bees swarm?

charlotte · September 09, 2009, 07:42:47 PM

Hello All!

Started 3 new hives this year & was able to pull about 40# of nice honey off :-D Started some fall feeding, as golden rod is almost done here & I want to make sure all have suffiecient winter stores. Wondering how late in the season bees will swarm? If we continue to have above av. Sept. temps could backfilling the brood nest cause a really late swarm?? Or I am in the clear, regardless of the warm Sept? Would it be better to start feeding later? I don't want to wait too long, and then have them not cap it...???

Thank You in advance!! :)

bailey · September 10, 2009, 03:45:08 PM

had a swarm in early november last year.
i am in south louisiana though.

we have swarms as they back fill the brood nest in september and october here often.
bailey.

bee-nuts · September 10, 2009, 09:42:49 PM

Thanks for the reminder. I have a hive that's been building queen cups. I scraped them off for the second time and added a super last week. They did not have eggs or royal jelly in em so I really hope they were not serious. They had a killer alfalfa flow on. Now all the stuff is cut down so hopefully they gave up any ideas if they had any. I better get up early before work and check anyway.

I'm not sure if were out of the woods yet or not. Id say if there is plenty of room and they are not packing honey like mad you should be fine and feeding should not hurt anything.

I'm a newbie though, so what do I know.

homer · September 10, 2009, 09:50:45 PM

Quote from: bee-nuts on September 10, 2009, 09:42:49 PM
Thanks for the reminder. I have a hive that's been building queen cups. I scraped them off for the second time and added a super last week. They did not have eggs or royal jelly in em so I really hope they were not serious. They had a killer alfalfa flow on. Now all the stuff is cut down so hopefully they gave up any ideas if they had any. I better get up early before work and check anyway.

I'm not sure if were out of the woods yet or not. Id say if there is plenty of room and they are not packing honey like mad you should be fine and feeding should not hurt anything.

I'm a newbie though, so what do I know.

Lots of colonies will build queen cups just for the sake of doing it. Most of mine do it pretty much all summer long, and none of them attempted to swarm. Just as the buiding of queen cups has no direct relation to whether a hive will swarm or not, tearing down the empty cups will not deter a hive from swarming when it is set on doing it. If you are intent on tearing them down though, just always make sure they are empty. It's not a good idea to start tearing queen cells.

bee-nuts · September 10, 2009, 10:46:28 PM

homer

"Lots of colonies will build queen cups just for the sake of doing it."

I have learned this and am not freaking out about them now. I still want to keep an eye on them because they had run out of room in no time with the alfalfa flow on. They built and rebuilt about seven or so cups on bottom bars between brood boxes. I'm not sure these were just built for the sake of doing it. They have had 9 or ten days now so if there back with larva in them Ill now for sure.

"It's not a good idea to start tearing queen cells."

why?

homer · September 10, 2009, 11:14:02 PM

Quote from: bee-nuts on September 10, 2009, 10:46:28 PM
homer

"Lots of colonies will build queen cups just for the sake of doing it."

I have learned this and am not freaking out about them now. I still want to keep an eye on them because they had run out of room in no time with the alfalfa flow on. They built and rebuilt about seven or so cups on bottom bars between brood boxes. I'm not sure these were just built for the sake of doing it. They have had 9 or ten days now so if there back with larva in them Ill now for sure.

"It's not a good idea to start tearing queen cells."

why?

When the bees start top build queen cells and raise a new queen there is usually a very good reason for it (i.e. supercedure, emergency, or swarm) Typically if you see queen cells that are capped or with larvae in them in a supercedure situation, the queen is already dead and gone. And it is certainly the case with emergency queen cells. If you go tearing them down then you just rendered your colony queenless with NO chance of solving that problem on their own. If they are swarm cells, you may be able to catch the queen before she swarms and do an artificial swarm with her a a few frames of bees, to keep the hive from swarming and you losing out. Chances are that you may find that your hive has already swarmed by the time you find the capped swarm cells. And by all means, if the swarm cells are in abundance it is ion your best interest to put a frame with a few on it into a nuc to raise a new queen as well. Swarm queens are usually the best queens you can get, raised under the most ideal conditions!

Don't quote me on this but I think that the only time people tear down cells is after they requeen a colony and the bees start to build queen cells before they fully realize there is a new queen. Other than that I'd say to avoid it as it will only cause you problems down the line.

JP · September 11, 2009, 12:19:05 AM

I had a swarm call today, it was on a fire hydrant. Sunday, a guy called me about a swarm that showed up the day before in his trailer. Like Bailey, I caught one last November as well.

...JP

fermentedhiker · September 11, 2009, 12:40:40 AM

I had a swarm call just a week ago, which is crazy for this climate. I missed them by about 2 hours.(that's what happens when you have a non bee day job) Not much hope of them getting set for winter on their own. It would've been tough for me to get them built up if i had gotten them, but at least they would have had a shot. Oh well, nature is a tough culler for sure.

charlotte · September 11, 2009, 01:10:06 PM

Well- guess I'll just keep a close eye on the girls...sounds like I may not be out of the woods yet...

Thanks everyone! Have a great weekend :)