Comments on: A Swarm in May https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2019/05/a-swarm-in-may/ Tales from a down-shifted family - Making the most of modest means in West Wales Sat, 04 May 2019 15:30:47 +0000 hourly 1 By: Alan Cole https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2019/05/a-swarm-in-may/#comment-49810 Sat, 04 May 2019 15:30:47 +0000 https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=29745#comment-49810 In reply to Phil.

Don’t worry Phil, I had planned to check on them again today. And that’s exactly what I did, despite the chilly temps and strong winds! All was OK in the hive with the original queen and the flying bees. No signs of new queen cells and they seem quite busy and best of all the queen is still in residence!

All OK in the hive with the queen cells too. There were a few queens cells but now only one. Lets hope she manages to mate once she emerges and that we have a good sunmmer from then on. Fingers crossed.

Al.

]]> By: Phil https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2019/05/a-swarm-in-may/#comment-49798 Fri, 03 May 2019 17:05:04 +0000 https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=29745#comment-49798 Hi Alan. Welcome to the club! I’ve had to artificial swarm 2 colonies already, and another is superceding (I hope it hasn’t swarmed, but who knows?). Everyone else I speak to is in the same position. It’s clearly been a great spring, and I think that the mild winter was kind to them.

Good luck with the A/S. don’t forget to check the parent colony 4-5 days after you removed the queen. They’ll probably have made some emergency queen cells out of 1-2 day old larvae, which could be capped after 5 days. If you leave more than 1 queen cell then in my experience they will cast swarm. I never seem to find all the q-cells and end up with a few casts each year!

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