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Thread: Swarm control

  1. #11
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    I've not done a Taranov but it's (or perhaps was) on a 'To Do' list.

    However, I regularly shake through a complete brood box to harvest nurse bees for mating nucs. Remove brood box to the side, new empty box in it's place on the floor, shake every frame into it (having found the Q and placed her somewhere safe), add QE, add original BB plus frames of brood and wait for an hour or so. Nurse bees go up to tend the brood, and you shake them out into a picnic freezer box to harvest for the mini-nucs.

    By far and away the least pleasant beekeeping task I do. It's almost always on a wet or cool day (and time critical, so cannot be delayed). The bees get pretty disturbed ... unless the colony has a tendency to be tetchy, in which case they go totally postal.

    I've not noticed a high death rate, but am usually just pleased to be away from the colony

    PS ... 'nectar in the frames' ... possibly shaken out and gums everything up in a pile of angry bees? I've not noticed this as most of the nectar is usually in the supers by the time I harvest nurse bees.
    Last edited by fatshark; 10-03-2017 at 07:04 PM. Reason: PS

  2. #12
    Senior Member busybeephilip's Avatar
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    Classic Taranov - Dont have time to do this, splits are the way to go

  3. #13
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    How does one manage the bees after the Taranov split? The queen is now with all the young bees, and the brood with the old ones.

    If you put her back on the original spot, she will gain flying bees and become a balanced colony - but what about the brood part? Or would it be better to arrange them vertically like in a Demaree, so that they can then sort themselves out?

    Kitta

  4. #14
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    What i did was to treat the "swarm" as just that and leave an open cell for the rest. Seemed to work ok but it's not a technique I would recommend. It is seriously rough on the bees.

    PH

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