strong hive requeen will it

hardtime · April 04, 2009, 07:51:42 PM

i have a stong hive i am seeing drones 2 day out of that hive . if i requeen that hive will it not swarm on me . or will i nead to spilt it anyway ?

Kathyp · April 04, 2009, 08:01:47 PM

drones alone do not indicate an impending swarm. you need to check for swarm cells. if you have swarm cells, requeening will not help. splitting the hive using those swarm cells probably will. if the hive is really booming, and not yet ready to swarm, just giving them more room may be all that you need. when i add a new box, i take a couple of the frames from the box below and put them in the new box exchanging unused frames for those removed.

hardtime · April 04, 2009, 08:28:44 PM

will put in a new queen stop a hive from swarming if there aint no swarm cells in it

Kathyp · April 04, 2009, 08:41:25 PM

you'll get different opinions on requeening from others and others more experienced than i, but i am not a fan of requeening unless there is something wrong with the queen you have. if you like the performance of the hive, and the temperament, why would you mess with it?

if a hive is determined to swarm, they will. you can often stop a hive from swarming if you recognize the signs and can interrupt them. not always. i do not know anyone that does requeening simply as a form of swarm prevention.

the best you can do is try to make sure they have room to expand and that if they show signs of swarming you try splitting them. even when we stay on top of things they sometimes fool us a swarm anyway.

do you think you have a hive ready to swarm?

JP · April 04, 2009, 08:45:02 PM

Quote from: hardtime on April 04, 2009, 08:28:44 PM
will put in a new queen stop a hive from swarming if there aint no swarm cells in it

Hardtime, the bees decide to swarm or not, but before they do they will create swarm cells. The queen has no choice in this decision.

A healthy, strong hive will gear to swarm, it is a reproductive urge to perpetuate the species.

It is our job of course to try and prevent our bees from swarming by giving them room or doing splits thus creating an artificial swarm, tricking them, so to speak, into thinking they have already swarmed.

You may just be seeing drones as they are building up from overwintering. Hives will kick drones out in winter when they have no use for them and make more come spring time.

...JP

iddee · April 04, 2009, 11:32:42 PM

The only thing requeening it will do is kill a great queen and replace her with an unknown one that may be mean, non productive, or diseased. It will not affect swarming at all.

Michael Bush · April 04, 2009, 11:53:26 PM

>will put in a new queen stop a hive from swarming if there aint no swarm cells in it

IMO, no.

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

Scadsobees · April 06, 2009, 02:09:40 PM

In theory, it depends.

Younger queens produce more pheromones, and more pheromones means a less-prone to swarm hive.

If you know that your queen is old, it MAY help. But swarming is an instinct triggered by more than just pheromones, so what the others said is true as well.

That is the theory anyway. Supposedly 2 queens will produce even more pheromones, and I tried that and that hive swarmed, and then swarmed, swarmed again, and then when I thought they were done they swarmed a fourth or fifth time!

Some people requeen every year. I find that it is too expensive and prefer and enjoy managing through splits and so on.

Rick