lost count

there was only going to be 6 hives in the beehouse - MAXIMUM!....there's two more hives in another row behind these you DON'T see!

SWARM season. so many - i lost count. i believe i caught them all. swarms that were too small to make it on their own....i COMBINED with other swarms! i'm sure they didn't like it...but i didn't like them swarming either! ok - i gave them a "little break-in time"...when i combined them - i put a sheet of newspaper on top of the hive below...a queen excluder - then the new box on top. i figured they'd have some time to chew out the newspaper and COMBINE the smells...then i removed the queen excluder after about a week/10 days...and let nature take it's course.

one of my boxes - i believe - went queenless in the swarming!...or she was out on her nuptuals? (inspection revealed good population - no sign of any eggs/larvae)...anyway - that hive got a swarm queen (i hope)

as members from our club might remember - we found quite a few swarm cells in the 3 high hive - which we split. did the split - not make them swarm? NO! i believe both hives swarmed anyway.

which leads to the question....(even IF you do everything right - which i didn't do)...but YOU GAVE THEM ALL THE ROOM IN THE WORLD and THEY SWARMED ANYWAY!??? what happened? all i can say to that is....they're still WILD ANIMALS - they're going to do what they want.

i talked to a fellow beekeeper at the west bend farmer's market (150 hives and 150 of his son-in-laws hives)....he said LOTS OF SWARMS too!! our friend in canada says - LOTS OF SWARMS.

i know those beekeepers out for honey production view swarms as HALF OF THE WORKFORCE LEAVING...but i view swarms as....STRONG HIVES SPLITTING. and it's GOOD for the bees - IF YOU CATCH THEM! remember, the survivability of swarm in the wild is only about 20%....probably due to the fact they pick a bad spot, or they can't "get it together" before winter with enough population and food, and/or they receive no treatment for varroa & weaken.

one thing i learned from last year's swarm season. make sure you have enough spare boxes and equipment for next year's swarm season!

i'm making a concerted effort to WORK MY BEE-SEASON backwards this year - with my HARVEST DAY already planned. that being the "final date" in mind - i'm working out and planning varroa treatments and possible combinations. i REALLY don't want to go into winter with 8 hives or more....i'm watching to see - which hives will i combine? i'm considering overwintering some HIVES ON TOP OF HIVES (this year's experiment). after harvest - i would put newspaper on top of the "strong hive"....add a queen excluder....and overwinter them that way. will they gain from the warmth/population of each other? HEALTHY hives of course - don't want to infect my "mother hive" with some disease.... in the spring - you should be able to "re-split" the hive...in theory.... hmmm? (i'm squinting - thinking)