My Hive(s) Emailed/ Texted Me They're Swarming

Apis_M_Rescue · February 15, 2011, 02:22:27 AM

Just seen this on Facebook on how certain vibrations of the bees detected by electronic equipment gives forewarning of bees about to swarm. Has accompanying video:

Scientist Discovery May Help Save Honey Bee

hankdog1 · February 15, 2011, 03:27:49 AM

If i'm not mistaken a device like your talking about was invented years and years ago.

Michael Bush · February 15, 2011, 06:35:40 AM

The plans are on beesource. It was called the Apiductor.

BjornBee · February 15, 2011, 07:45:12 AM

Pure marketing crap that would be expensive and unpractical.

So your sitting at work, after installing a few thousand dollars worth of electronic gear to your 20 hives. You are then notified that your bees are in the act of swarming. So you you leave work, drove 20 miles, and get there two minutes late and the swarm is gone. And after you leave work a few times, you get fired. :-D

I am glad to see that the last 30 seconds of the video brought some commonsense and practical advice from a "skeptical" beekeeper.

And the claims that swarming is "Abandoning" the hive, or that this would be a big part of overcoming "CCD" and the losses to bees, (Like sick bees swarm anyways..not!) is marketing hype and fluff at the extreme level. Nobody has seen swarms hanging in trees after a beeyard (sometimes hundreds at a time) had all it's bees leave in a few days due to CCD symptoms.

Just another company, or another researcher justifying the next research grant, and using the losses to bees to benefit themselves.

Which is exactly what CCD has become. A money pit for some.

hankdog1 · February 15, 2011, 09:04:05 AM

BjornBee now i'm gonna help ya out on your rant. Wouldn't listening for pipping in the beeyard be much cheaper? Seems to me that is a good sign as any that they are about to swarm of course it's not 100%.

David McLeod · February 15, 2011, 10:14:47 AM

Setting the pure impracticality aside. What are you to do with it? If I understand this right the device allows to have a heads up on when the swarm is imminent. So you get to catch it I guess. I doubt there will ever be a device that will stop the swarming impulse. Once the girls make that decision it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that they will swarm or screw your entire season up trying to stop them.

edward · February 15, 2011, 11:05:51 AM

Good riddens to bad bees :-D

If they are swarming so much that its a problem for the beekeeper , he/she might consider a better genetic stock of bees that is less likely to swarm.

Were supposed to bee beekeepers not bee owners ;)

mvh edward :P

Vetch · February 15, 2011, 04:11:59 PM

Quote from: David McLeod on February 15, 2011, 10:14:47 AM
... I doubt there will ever be a device that will stop the swarming impulse. Once the girls make that decision it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that they will swarm or screw your entire season up trying to stop them.

Not sure about that. There might be something (like a pheromone or essential oil) that can quash the immediate urge to swarm. Long term, the beek needs to identify and fix the problem that makes them want to swarm ... we don't know all the factors that cause swarming, may never know them (and the monitors are pricey). But I think this is interesting research, even if it is not yet practical.

Brian D. Bray · February 19, 2011, 12:10:37 AM

Splitting a hive, taking the old queen away, is the best solution to swarming. But with bees they might still swarm.
If you want to try to prevent a hive from swarming give them lots of room (extra supers) to work the nectar and keep placing foundation in the brood chamber. Most bees will usually not swarm while building the brood chamber, but with bees everything is relative.