The problem is (for me, anyway) that when my first colonies want to swarm I take care of them and do artificial swarms - but I don't yet have good queens from the colonies I want to breed from to replace the queen cells in the swarmy daughter hives.
It's like this every year - and this year, despite my best intentions, all this cold weather did not help to get me ready and prepared for the early swarmers either. (Perhaps I'm just a slow learner in some ways.)
Kitta
Ahh dont mind him I was only winding him up, But decided to stay quiet to see what would happen, As for the bees I have received loads of good advice from some of the top bee-keepers in Ireland and know some of them first name terms having studied with them. except Jon who I will make it my business to introduce myself to when we cross paths. The bees are fine and come from very good stock one of the chaps who visited was impressed with them and since the Queen is from a different part of the country New queens bred by me will mate with locally drones no way related to my stock. So exciting times ahead, I was never great with the spelling BEE. Thanks.
Elsewhere on the forum there was some research concerning royal lines or larva that the bees preferentially choose to raise queen cells from
Now emergency cells might be raised from less ideal material but swarm cells most certainly won't be
By contrast if we are grafting we are taking larva that the bees themselves probably wouldn't choose
Logically that might mean you are less likely to get a daughter that is going to mirror the mother queen traits
Instinctively you or I might be inclined to disagree with this hypothesis but it is also a mechanism which might explain why local Amm populations can both survive and indeed be created within a hybridised area
Being rude sometimes betrays a lack of real insight
I think a propensity to swarming does exist but even without that. when a hive reaches a peak population, there is an inbuilt swarming imperative which needs beekeeper intervention
I'm pretty sure the old non swarming Amm argument only applies to good strains of those bees and there will be plenty swarming going on all be it a bit later in the season
Anyway GG I would be happy with a daughter queen from your hive they sound like they could bring in some honey which after all is the name of the game
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Wasn't being rude at all - just stating the obvious and suggesting how the poster could improve him/herself.
If you wish to use swarm cells in your nucs - go ahead, don't let my comments put you off.
I look forward to reading about your antics with swarming bees in the future on this fine forum.
Last edited by Duncan; 03-06-2016 at 07:25 AM.
Texting and emails are more likely to be misinterpreted than other communications DuncanOriginally Posted by Duncan
It's a fair enough point but it might not be as clear cut as it first appears
If you had a small or average size colony which attempts to swarm itself out with prime swarm followed by several casts etc that would be an issue
When a large colony gets ready for swarming that's something else
There are bees that have better than average performance in swarming tolerance, hygenic behaviour, temper etc
I believe that's not confined to one sub group i.e. Buckfast, Amm ,Carniolan whatever but can be found in strains within those sub groups
No one has ever, to my knowledge, produced honey bees which dont ever swarm, ipso facto, the very best, non swarmy bees will produce swarm cells occasionally. To consider these cells inferior to those grafted from selected stock is a messy mix of ignorance, arrogance and a poor grasp of bee genetics.
I know quite a few (well, perhaps a handful) of beefarmers who raise their own queens by grafting, not one will turn their nose up at harvesting good swarm cells or pulled virgins when the occasion arises.
I dont have any knowledge of any magic superbees, and if anyones trying to claim theirs are, they've either come up with something the very best institutes and breeding programmes worldwide have so far failed to do, congratulations! otherwise, they're full of BS
Last edited by mbc; 03-06-2016 at 10:35 AM.
Thank you for your opinion. BS is the prerogative of AMM enthusiasts and Co. As beekeepers progress from beginners and gain more experience they come to realise some of the things they try to brainwash newcomers with is just a load of rubbish.
Your commercial beekeepers must leave a lot to be desired if they are able to graft but use swarm cells if found. Just because they are professional beekeepers doesn't mean that they don't make management mistakes. For me the use of such cells is, a SERIOUS error - for reasons that I have posted previously.
Swarming in our colonies is almost non-existent, we would not be able to operate the way we do if it were otherwise. We have honey production colonies in apiaries scattered across several hundred square kilometers. It is impossible to do inspections for swarm control and the truth is there is no need for such inspections. We cannot be worrying about colonies swarming when we have other much more important things to do, such as queen production.
We produce 400-600 queen cells per week from early March till late June - for our own use and for selling to other beekeepers, as we are unable to satisfy the demand for mated queens. All the mated queens are exported and local beekeepers get supplied with 10 day old queen cells grafted from II breeders. Every morning they come to the meeting point and pick them up. The production of these cells requires a number of cell builders - these have huge populations of bees, being boosted by the addition frames of sealed brood. Believe me these colonies are at bursting point with the number of bees in them and they are fed syrup daily. It would be a disaster and an impossible situation if the bees in these colonies swarmed. So, yes it is possible to have large colonies without swarming. Darn, just exposed another beekeeping myth!
If anyone has any doubt at all about the qualities of our bees, best thing to do is to get a plane to Cyprus, come, see and judge for yourself and not comment about something they know very little about.
Sounds like they're good for Cyprus.
As well as Scotland, Wales, England........Ireland, even Finland and Sweden among the users.
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