An old timers method for swarm prevention and hive splitting.

[Lesgold]

Hi Folks,

I was just talking to my brother about an old timer beekeeper that I knew. I met him about five years ago and had many long discussions with him about beekeeping. These old blokes often hold a lot of knowledge and I felt privileged to be able to sit down and listen to him talk about his experiences. When I met him, he was in his 82nd year of beekeeping. He established his first hive at the age of 6 and has kept bees ever since. At the time that I met him, he was running 60 hives on his own. He explained the problems of ageing and how he had to develop simple techniques to make his life easier. One of my favourites was how he would prevent a hive from swarming when he found queen cells. The technique may not be new but it was a quick and simple solution to a problem. Here is the procedure that he would follow:

When capped swarm cells were found in a hive, he would use a trolley to move the hive about 10m from its sitting location. He would then put a bottom board on the old hive stand. In a new box, he would place a frame of sealed brood with two good queen cells attached. The bees on this frame would be carefully brushed back into the main hive. He would then add about 3 frames of capped brood (bees shaken back into the main hive) and a few frames of honey and pollen to fill the box. This box would then go back onto the bottom board that was placed in the original hives position. A lid was placed on the box. The original hive was then checked and he would leave one or two queen cells in that hive. He would then close up the original hive and walk away.  Flying bees return to the empty hive and populate it and the other hive has young bees, a queen and also some queen cells. I quizzed him once about leaving cells in the hive with a queen and he just looked at me and smiled and said not to worry about it. The bees will do what they want to do. After swarm season is finished, he would decide whether to keep both hives or combine them to make one strong hive. This system worked for him and solved the swarming issue. He could perform this task in about 5 minutes and did not have to try to find the queen with his poor eyesight.

[NigelP]

No wonder he smiled.
When the queen ends up surrounded by only nurse bees they will tear the queen cells down.
Snelgrove pointed this out many many years ago.
It's actually quite a good variation so thanks for sharing that Les.....as I'm not getting any younger it may prove useful 

[Lesgold]

Yes Nigel. He was a cunning old bloke. He spent hours just watching the bees and taking note of their movements and mannerisms. I have used this technique many times during the spring with excellent results. I wish I could have spent more time with him. He was able to manipulate frames to maximise honey yields and had a really good understanding of how to ensure the health of his hives.

[Acebird]

This system worked for him and solved the swarming issue. He could perform this task in about 5 minutes and did not have to try to find the queen with his poor eyesight.

Now that is smart.

[Michael Bush]

You get a similar but more spectacular result for all the same reasons with a well timed cut down split:

http://bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm#cutdown