Swarms

'tis the season when hives are cooking-up queens for swarming.  Swarming - nature's way of dividing the hive.  Good for the bees (go forth and multiply)....bad for the beekeeper interested in honey production (half your workforce disappears).

oh, how you learn and grow with your bees and your beekeeping hobby/habit...

I've "hived" 4 swarms in 3 days.  My Own!  I've got single deeps of bees all over the backyard - had to make an emergency run to the bee supplier for more"hardware".

As this is my third year as a keeper, having a LITTLE history...I can look at some of my methods/goals/objectives/preconceptions that have come and GONE.  As a first year - I had my "nose" in the box WAY TOO MUCH.  My second year goal was, "the bees know more about beekeeping than I do - interfere less".  My third year (THIS YEAR)......my goal is SWARM PREVENTION and understanding.

I've been reading some "alternative thought" about swarm prevention....and this is my CURRENT thought & question.  I had two whopping big hives come through winter with VERY little die off.  I thought that I "kept ahead" of the mother hive by splitting it early - but swarm cells were ALREADY created by the time I got to it (May 1!)....I really don't want to be cutting out perfectly good, natural queens.....how can I prevent SWARM CELL creation - how can I "get to" the bees BEFORE they even THINK about splitting?

One line of alternative thought is keeping the bees in 2.5 boxes(2 deeps & a super) - or 3 deeps!  Why do we think they MUST stay in 2 boxes?  If they want more room for brood production - why not give it to them?  Another thought process is the practice called, CHECKERBOARDING....which is alternating BROOD frames with EMPTY/honey frames. According to the practitioners of checkerboarding - it actually increases the hives brood production and "storing" desire - they get the feeling of much more "space" in the hive.

Honey production is a "by-product" of my hobby.  I can see where a honey producer might think - adding another deep - that's a lot of honey/storage that "I don't harvest".  But if you have MORE BEES - bees that don't leave - more workers = more honey....happy bees.

Going into the winter months with ALOT of bees is a good thing too.  Remember - the larger the cluster - the more likely they'll survive - they can more readily maintain the warmth of the cluster and MOVE for food resources....and with 3 boxes of food reserves?  When I "popped the top" of these two hives in April - the clusters were AT THE INSIDE COVER.

Hind-site being 20/20.  In the cases of my hives coming through winter as strong as they did.....they should have received another box after I did my hive body switch (putting the bottom "empty/eaten" frames on top of them).

Practitioners of "HIGH BEEHIVES (3 boxes) with a combination of the practice of CHECKERBOARDING" have reported that hives NATURALLY SUPERCEDE queens in the spring.  A much more CALM and natural way of the hive maintaining their OWN production.

The bees know more about beekeeping than we do - that's for SURE!  In the case of these two hives - I'm throwing out "MY NEED of 2 deeps" - I'm going to give these bees more space.