Stopping a swarm in progress??

[Pi]

Is it possible to stop a swarm in progress when you see the bees just starting to cloud up in front of the hive?  Can you plug up the exit to save some of the bees?  Or is it a unstoppable?

[Michael Bush]

>Can you plug up the exit to save some of the bees?

If you put a queen excluder on the bottom board (and there is no top entrance) then the queen can't get out (if she hasn't already).  This MIGHT cause them to eventually go back to the hive since the queen didn't leave.  If this does work, it will only buy you a few days.  Eventually the bees will probably leave anyway and the drones will be trapped which will make a mess when they die trying to leave.

[wayne]

  I wonder if splitting the hive would work?

[Michael Bush]

>I wonder if splitting the hive would work?

While they are swarming?

[Brian D. Bray]

Whenever I've been in the apiary and a swarm has started to leave the hive I take my hive tool and beat on the metal part of the telescopic top.  The beat needs to be slow and rthymatic to mimic the sound of thunder.  Bees won't swarm in a thunder storm.  If a garden hose is handy and you can spray the bees with a little water in addition to the drum beats so much the better.  The bees will usually settle close by so that you can hive them.  I've been doing that for years, I occassionally lose one but most will land. 

[tig]

i have to try that brian, the only time i was able to stop a swarm was by pure luck.  when i saw them swarming out of the box i was able to catch the queen as she flew out of the box and cage her then put her on top of some frames in a nuc box.  when the swarm settled on a nearby tree [ the didn't know their queen wasn't with them yet]. i had to put the nuc box near the tree and scoop a couple of handfuls of her bees and put them on the queen cage.  those bees started fanning and the swarm flew down to their queen and new home.  technically, it didn't really stop them from swarming....

[Eve Sylvia]

Don't stop the swarm, it is healthy, and it makes more bees, which we need. Just try to catch it, if possible. Be happy your hive is healthy enough to swarm. Think of bee health as more important than lots of honey for you.

[Mici]

his intent isn't to stop the swarm, but to catch it with greater chances.

[Understudy]

Don't stop the swarm, it is healthy, and it makes more bees, which we need. Just try to catch it, if possible. Be happy your hive is healthy enough to swarm. Think of bee health as more important than lots of honey for you.

The idea behind stopping the swarm is very simple. bees that don't swarm collect more honey. If you can do a split you can create some very productive hives but it is all in how you do the split.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesswarmcontrol.htm

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Michael Bush]

>Don't stop the swarm, it is healthy, and it makes more bees, which we need.

But they usually get away while I'm at work.  :)

>Just try to catch it, if possible.

But if I split before it swarms it VERY possible.  If I try to catch it, I'm not likely to be there.  The end results is still another colony.

[Eve Sylvia]

So you do split when you think a swarm is coming soon?
Where can I read up on the best way to time and do the split

[Understudy]

So you do split when you think a swarm is coming soon?
Where can I read up on the best way to time and do the split

Hmmm let me think about that one.
Oh yeah on Michael's site.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Michael Bush]

And this:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesswarmcontrol.htm

If you want to see the yearly cycle of a colony:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesbasics.htm