When do the bees start to swarm?

Started by omnimirage, August 10, 2016, 07:57:45 PM

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omnimirage

I'm planning my busy next month. I have some things to do which involves me being out of town for no more than a week. I need to decide whether to do this early September, or late September.

Last year, I noted that the bees started to swarm as the weather got warmer. On the first warm day of Spring, I had seven people contacting me, wanting swarms removed.

Any idea when that will happen again? I'm not sure if I can just check somewhere for an estimate of when Spring will start to become warm again.

Wombat2

Last year I thought "getting warm better check the hives for room or they will swarm - "busy" this week will do it next weekend" - all four swarmed the following Friday.

This year as soon as the day temperatures were above 20* for a week I was into all the hives - checked for disease and removed any honey and pollen frames from the brood box - this gives the queen plenty of room to build up laying also in a couple I lifted fully capped brood up into the middle of the box above. The more room the better. Place new frames between existing frames at least 3 in from the outsides not right in the middle.

By doing this the queen is not cramped for room and the hive is less likely to be looking for room to expand.
David L

Wombat2

David L