Thank you for posting. As some of the other comments have suggested, it seems counter productive to knock down queen cells after removing the old queen. It sets back the bees a few days and causes them a lot of undue stress. The queen you get from an emergency cup is not going to be as good of a queen compared to the one they selected and the queen laid for the purpose. I always imagined that she picks her best eggs for queen cups that might replace her.
Hi, thanks for the video. Beginner here. What's the reason you destroy all the developing queen cells when you do the artificial swarm? What would happen if you were to leave one to develop into the new queen, rather than destroy them and wait for the workers to make new queen cells with the remaining eggs? Thanks
Hi Stewart, Sure wish i had happened upon your helpful, interesting site earlier on. As i mentioned previously this past spring was my first year and lost most of my colony due to swarming and what was left didn't fair well due to Varroa. Been told that Varroa doesn't pose a problem with first year colonies, but in my case it wasn't so. With your help i'm much more informed which i ought to had been before starting last spring.Have all the equipment now for this coming season and can't wait! Going to be a long, slow winter which i will spend much time in your Honeybee School! Again THANKS for all you do!
Hi Bruce, Varroa can be a major problem so always worth using some method of control even if it's a mechanical, non-chemical method. Keep at it and good luck with the new season. Stewart
I don't understand the destruction of the queen cells that were already started. The destruction sets them back. But there are many ways to slice an apple. There was lots of good info in the video. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Bee to Z, The reason I do this is to avoid the early emergence and possible destruction of the newly emerged queen. I move the original hive from one side of the new hive to the other after a week, if the newly emerged queen happens to be out on a mating flight, when she returns she would possibly end up in the hive with the old queen and be destroyed. Stewart
Hi Stewart, Thanks for all the great content you upload, it's really helpful. After you removed the queen, and put the empty hive in the old spot, What would happen if you didn't remove any of the queen cells in the queenless hive and came back in 7 days? Thanks
Hi Dominic, It's possible you may have a new queen and she has destroyed all of her sisters but it's also possible the remaining bees might try to swarm on the first virgin queen out and go on to swarm in ever decreasing numbers as further virgin queens emerge. I like to knock them down and take control of the timing but I know lots of beekeepers who just knock all but one down and also others who cut out swarm cells to use in queenless mating nucs. Stewart
Good video. Thank you. But like the previous commentator, I cannot understand why you would want to set back the old colony further by knocking down any queen cells. Surely, the ideal scenario is to find queen cells. In fact, in my amateur way, I always understood that finding queen cells in a colony was the trigger for creating an artificial swarm, but that these cells (or one of them) should then be left for the old colony's next queen. The debate then is whether to leave a few and assume that the new queen's will fight it out, or whether to leave just one.
I personally dont destroy the cells that they have already started or capped. It gives them a three to eight day head start. Plus, each one of those cells is twenty to twenty five dollars after they are mated. I place them in mating nucs. If you have eight to ten cells in there, that is a couple of hundred extra dollars.
Hi Bear09871, Thanks for stopping and commenting. Yes you are absolutely right, I would normally look to cut out and keep any extra cells from my better colonies and here in the UK they sell for anything from £25-£40. I wanted to show how to control the timing of the new queen as much as anything hence cutting out the extra cells. Where about's do you keep bees? Stewart
What do your bees forage on? I'm guessing cotton produces a reasonable nectar flow? Norfolk, UK is a really lovely county of England, very happy living here. Queens sell for a small fortune here because most beekeepers can't be bothered to learn how to produce their own or believe it's far too complicated for someone with jsut a couple of hives. Queens from Europe get imported regularly too which seems madness to me, I'm all for raising my own queens and it's always such a good feeling when you get a good cross.
The new BT cotton is not very good anymore for a heavy nectar flow. Too much GMO engineering done to it. We have lots of wild sunflowers, horsemint and mesquite. The mesquite makes a really light clean tasting honey, really good. We enjoying making our own queens as well. Enjoy seeing new queens that have mated well and its amazing how fast a new queen can lay compared to a little older caged queen.
Sunflowers, horsemint and mesquite sounds very nice, our main Summer crop comes from wild blackberries, I have several apiary sites surrounded by them and you can really taste them in the honey.
Great vid and usual. Please can I ask why you knock back all the queen cells in the original hive, rather than keeping 1 to produce a new queen quicker?
Dear Stuart, thank you for the video's they are so helpful. Just a few questions regarding the artificial swarm process as I am going to attempt one this season, firstly I assume that you have to feed the colony that has the queen and the new frames? also can I perform an artificial swarm on a colony that is only 1 year old, it was a nuce that I had at the start of last season? Thank you in advance for any advice :-)
You can do an artificial swarm. If you feel you have enough bees and the weather is good it's worth a try if you want to increase. Make sure your queen is laying well and you have eggs. That is a must. If you have 7 of 11 frames full, it may be a good time. This is a great time of year here in northern Ireland, I'll be waiting until the end of the month before I do any manipulations. I'm not the guy you were hoping for but I hope that helps.
Hi, loved the video and apologies for the newbie question... Why did you destroy all of the queen cells in the original hive once you'd removed the queen? Wouldn't it be quicker to leave one and save the 14 days it takes them to make new queen cells? Thanks!
Hi Roberto, It's perfectly fine to leave one queen cell and many people do just that including myself. Sometimes I like to set the timing to my diary and by removing all the queen cells it allows me a little more time to get sorted elsewhere. If you leave one capped queen cell it will emerge in around 6-8 days depending on when it was sealed. As long as you know your timings that fine. Have a great season. Stewart
Hi Stewart, A Beginner, just watched you doing a split,I did not understand why you made the hive queen less, I am thinking why not allow the existing queen cells to develope so providing a new queen to replace the one taken ?????
Hi Mike & Andy, Removing the existing queen cells means that you are in control of the timing of when the virgin queen will emerge. There is nothing wrong with leaving a single, open queen cell but not any sealed. When you move the hive after seven days if there has been a new virgin queen emerge in the interim period she could lose her bearings when returning from a mating flight and end up in the wrong hive. Stewart
Hi, I am a new beekeeper, could you tell me what is the purpose of destroying the existing queen cell, since the bees still have to create new queen cells. Thank in advance.
Just watched. Never too experienced to watch a how to video. I noted after you had de queened the brood super you appear not to have replaced the queen excluder. I have read that people don’t use the excluder. Don’t see the point in that. I just wanted to check wether you have replaced excluder just that not shown on the video. My second question relates to getting brood frames pre drawn ready to use in a nuc. Is it necessary, is it best practise, or is it just to speed up establishing a new nuc ready to move into a full brood box. Thanks.
if you destroy all the queen cells in the old hive in order to stimulate the workers to raise more queen cells, of which only one is not then destroyed, why can you not destroy all queen cells bar one in the first place?
Hi Stuart can i ask would you be able to just introduce a new queen in cage to the queenless hive rather than wait around for production of new queen cells,thxs
Hi Chris, Thanks for the question. Yes, you most cetainly can. If you have a spare queen then splitting the colony and introducing a queen into the queenless hive works just fine. Stewart
Hi Sait Youcef, Thanks for commenting. The process needs to be performed in the active season when the bees are best able to produce wax to rebuild and also have plenty of drones for the mating process. So for me here in the UK anytime from late April to August has been successful for me. Stewart
Hi, Both colonies will be depleted of bees for a while so it may be prudent to wait a little if you're thinking of taking a crop of honey. We leave supers on to provide food for colonies and sometimes, with very strong colonies they do continue to fill them in a strong flow. Have a great Season. Stewart
I am just wondering when you take the frame with the queen on and put into the new hive can you be guaranteed there are suitable eggs on the remaining frames for remaining bees to raise a queen?
Hi Sandra, if there are eggs in the cells the bees will make queen cells from those they choose. I've never had a colony not produce queen cells using this method. Stewart
Hi Patrick, Good question, for the artificial swarm method I move it 2-3 metres away to one side, this prevents workers returning to the parent colony. I'm lucky in that I have large apiary spaces so have the room. Stewart
@@TheNorfolkHoneyCo Hi Stewart, this is my first full year of bee keeping and I think one of my hives will need to be split this way. I have made some new space in the apiary about 25m away from the existing position. Is it ok, do you think, to move the new colony with the old queen over to that new site and leave the new colony in the existing position or will this cause problems for the bees?
@@stevebatchelor552 Hi Steve, With the artificial swarm the old queen is placed in a new hive on the old hive position so that she collects all of the flying bees to her. Move the then queenless colony in the old hive across to the new position. Stewart
Hi Umer, with an artificial swarm you are dividing the colony into specific groups, so you have the queen and all they flying bees but no queen cells in one hive and this is intended to prevent swarming at the new colony with the queen cells as they have no flying bees to be able to swarm. With a standard split all you are doing is dividing the hive and reducing the number of flying bees with the queen. This is usually enough to prevent immediate swarming but they can still swarm as the queen has mature flying bees and brood in her hive. I'll add it to my list of video's to create :) Stewart
In the box with the queen, you had all foundation (other than the frame having the queen which you inserted.) All the field bees will fly back to that box. But field bees are not the right age to draw comb. They are too old. You have some nurse bees that are of the right age on the frame you inserted along with the queen. But is that enough nurse bees to draw all that comb? Even during a flow? Might you have shaken some nurse bees from the donor colony into the artificial swarm box to enhance the population of wax-producing young bees? Are implying that the field bees will lend a hand to draw out those frames of foundation?
Hi Robert, I'm not sure of your seasonal changes, but if it's Spring and you have drones starting to appear then it's possible, the earliest I've had swarms is late March. Maybe ask the question in our facebook group, "Stewart's Beekeeping Basics".
Hi Stewart. I was told about you at the BBKA convention in April, I am very happy you make these informative videos. But can you give me some advice please. I am a very new beekeeper (just 9 days) within 5 days they were preparing to swarm (charged queens cells seen) my bee tutor helped me that day by showing me what to do under my circumstances, he removed the Q.C's to give me time to prep for the inevitable. He is unable to constantly help me. I understand how to do the A.S but because my nuc was so large within just 5 days with no room left for the Q to lay we added a super making a brood and half. I assume I put that half brood on the original hive with the Q'less colony? My thinking is the old Q will end up with all the flyers going back to her so will be ok, yes? I also have a super on that is fully drawn and partly filled with nectar it makes sense to leave this on the hive with the with the incumbent (old) Q, am I on the right track here or way off?
Hi Lisa, Thanks for the comment, I'm glad you find the videos helpful. I am assuming the old brood box is full of fully drawn brood frames. When you move the queen into the new hive the supers go with her, yes. Leave the brood filled super with the original queenless colony. So now you have the old queen on a frame of emerging brood which will give her a place to lay eggs, frames of foundation, flying bees and a super of food stores. The old colony is queenless but has all the remaining brood. Good luck with your beekeeping journey. Stewart
The Norfolk Honey Company that’s great I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly. A.S will have to be done tomorrow now as weather in Leicestershire is not suitable today. Even if I don’t find charged QC’s shall I do the A.S tomorrow anyway as they are a large colony now and a swarm is inevitable at some point?
Stewart I went through my hives today and found multiple queen cells. It occurred to me that it might be best just to put the single frame back into the flying bee brood box with the queen and just one fat queen cell. Then the bees could choose either to keep the queen or raise a new one.....? Also my brood is all on a WBC box and a half. What do you recommend doing with the half? I put it on the deep box for the flying bees. Is that OK? Richard
Hi Richard, If you leave a single queen cell it is most likely that the bees will swarm. The better option would be an artificial swarm. Brood and a half is always tricky, I would go with double brood if you have to as this gives you more options with same sized frames. Stewart
Hi Colin, If you leave sealed queen cells in place there is a chance they may drift back to the other hive and be destroyed. I prefer to knock them all down as this then puts me in control of the timings but of course, only if there are either eggs or very young larvae that the workers can then produce queen cells from. Stewart
Hello Stewart, thanks for your videos they are a great help. Like another beginner who left a comment I didn't understand why you removed all the queen cells from the original colony. Is it your intention to move the original colony again to a different location away from the new colony with the old queen? I was recommended Ted Hooper's book to get started and he seems to believe eggs raised to Queens from the start to be superior to those starting out in a regular worker cell. Do you have a different view? Again, many thanks for your channel. A great resource for a novice. Ben
Hi Ben, Thanks for the question, I probably didn't explain the process well enough in the video (put it down to being new in front of the camera!) Yes the hive gets moved a second time to the opposite side of the original site after a further seven days and so if a virgin queen has emerged from a queen cell left she may lose her bearings and fly into the hive on the original stand position and be destroyed by the old queen and her colony. I'm pretty sure Ted Hooper's book has a full explanation so I'll double check and come back to you if I have additional info. I'll make another artificial swarm video this Spring and go through the whole process again. Stewart
Thanks Stewart. You're right the process is described in the book but despite having reread numerous times it didn't quite make sense to me until I watched your video. I'm working my way through all the videos and looking forward to the next one. Many thanks.
Hi and thanks for the vid, I am a noob in bee keeping, and already have 1 hive since last year, now I have a 2nd empty hive which will be useful for an artificial swarm, therefore will have 2 colonies if successful? Is this the correct way? Thanks for your advice.
Hi K, An artificial swarm is a great way to increase from 1 to 2 colonies. Wait until the colony is really strong and the weather has warmed up to regularly allow inspections. If you find queen cells all the better but be patient and don't attempt it too soon. Stewart
Hi Airtime Vu, If you struggle with finding the queen I find moving the original colony away from it's stand and replacing with the new hive helps as a starting point. It will reduce the number of flying bees in the original colony dramatically giving you a much better chance of finding the queen. If you still can't find her, try splitting the original hive down into three or four nucs and then look again. If after all this you still can't find her put all the frames back into the original hive and take one frame loaded with eggs and open brood and put this into the new hive on the old stand position. If the queen is on the frame all good, if not the bees will make emergency queen cells and you have split the colony and prevented them from swarming. Stewart
The Norfolk Honey Company ... Thank you for your help. I found my queen according to the suggestions. Is it acceptable that I can only move the new hive 10 meters away from the original spot?
Hi Stewart. I have just tried to follow method but came across one small problem, we couldn't find the Queen! Is there another method or have we got to keep looking for her. To give us a bit more time we have destroyed the queen cells but I know this is not a long term solution.
Hi Terry, It can be a bit problematic when you can't find the queen. Now that you have destroyed the queen cells you can simply divide the hive into two and carry out the same process as for an artificial swarm. The hive without the queen will produce queen cells and you can then carry on from there. Stewart
good evening to you stewart,i am a suscriber and a follower of your forced swarm method.i got tired of waiting for them to make of their minds so i split em.i,ll talk to you again in a week,tell you how it went.obtw,i am from the state of virginia in the usa,my typing suks but oh well.catch ya later passage creek bees over and out
Hi Paul, Thanks for commenting. I know what you mean about having to be patient and wait for the bees to do their thing, especially when the season sometimes feels really short. Good luck with the splits and I look forward to hearing about how it went. Stewart
Good evening Stewart,its hard being an analog man in a digital world.Any way ,I got the split done,left the queen in the origional location with the flying bees and moved the rest to another location and all seems well.I havn't ever done it this way before so it;s gonna be interesting to see how it all works out.Question for ya,with most of my hives,the bees hang out at the entrance in abundance,they have plenty of ventalation and plenty of room I;m guessing it;s just plain hot,what do you think?It has been hot so hopefully that;s it.Talk to you soon,Paul
Hi Paul, For an analogue man you're doing just fine in commenting :) Good luck with the artificial swarm I'm sure it will work out just fine for you. Follow all the steps and it's normally pretty straightforward. The question about bees hanging out the front of the hive is a good one, I have had some of my colonies do it previously and it is due to the heat, we call it bearding as it looks like a beard on the front of the hive, the bees are just trying to cool everything down inside the hive. Normally nothing to worry about. Stewart
Thanks for the support,back in the 1970's beekeeping was pretty simple but now its complicated to say the least.I'm a self taught kinda person so the internet is my guide on things,again thanks for the helping hand,Paul
Hi Paras, Thanks for the question. Normally I destroy any capped queen cells as there is a chance that an early emerging virgin queen could drit into the hive with the old queen in it and be destroyed. You can leave uncapped queen cells but by destroying all of them (providing you have eggs) you can manage the timing of any further queen cells as you know exactly the time frame. You can then use extra queen cells in nucs etc if you want to remove some once capped. Stewart
why take out the queen cells and wait a week for new ones when you already have made queen cells. also how do u know what a strong queen cell looks like
Hi Steven, With the artificial swarm there is a risk that a virgin queen could emerge early, fly out and mate at just the wrong time and return to the hive with the old queen in it. This may happen if you move the queenless hive from one side to the other to bolster the number of workers in the colony with the old queen. Looking for a strong queen cell is a bit of a gamble and I don't think beekeepers ever get it 100% right everytime, but generally, a nice plump, uniformly shaped queen cell is what I look for. Having said that I have had some very good queen from small, emergency cells that I would normally cut out so it probably doesn't make a great deal of difference. Stewart
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Thank you for posting. As some of the other comments have suggested, it seems counter productive to knock down queen cells after removing the old queen. It sets back the bees a few days and causes them a lot of undue stress. The queen you get from an emergency cup is not going to be as good of a queen compared to the one they selected and the queen laid for the purpose. I always imagined that she picks her best eggs for queen cups that might replace her.
Good to see you back Stewart.
Thanks William.
Hi, thanks for the video. Beginner here. What's the reason you destroy all the developing queen cells when you do the artificial swarm? What would happen if you were to leave one to develop into the new queen, rather than destroy them and wait for the workers to make new queen cells with the remaining eggs? Thanks
Hi Stewart,
Sure wish i had happened upon your helpful, interesting site earlier on. As i mentioned previously this past spring was my first year and lost most of my colony due to swarming and what was left didn't fair well due to Varroa. Been told that Varroa doesn't pose a problem with first year colonies, but in my case it wasn't so. With your help i'm much more informed which i ought to had been before starting last spring.Have all the equipment now for this coming season and can't wait! Going to be a long, slow winter which i will spend much time in your Honeybee School! Again THANKS for all you do!
Hi Bruce,
Varroa can be a major problem so always worth using some method of control even if it's a mechanical, non-chemical method.
Keep at it and good luck with the new season.
Stewart
I don't understand the destruction of the queen cells that were already started. The destruction sets them back. But there are many ways to slice an apple. There was lots of good info in the video. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Bee to Z,
The reason I do this is to avoid the early emergence and possible destruction of the newly emerged queen. I move the original hive from one side of the new hive to the other after a week, if the newly emerged queen happens to be out on a mating flight, when she returns she would possibly end up in the hive with the old queen and be destroyed.
Stewart
Thank you. Short and sweet. Very clear. Thank you muchly.
Hi Stewart,
Thanks for all the great content you upload, it's really helpful.
After you removed the queen, and put the empty hive in the old spot,
What would happen if you didn't remove any of the queen cells in the queenless hive and came back in 7 days?
Thanks
Hi Dominic,
It's possible you may have a new queen and she has destroyed all of her sisters but it's also possible the remaining bees might try to swarm on the first virgin queen out and go on to swarm in ever decreasing numbers as further virgin queens emerge. I like to knock them down and take control of the timing but I know lots of beekeepers who just knock all but one down and also others who cut out swarm cells to use in queenless mating nucs.
Stewart
Good video. Thank you. But like the previous commentator, I cannot understand why you would want to set back the old colony further by knocking down any queen cells. Surely, the ideal scenario is to find queen cells. In fact, in my amateur way, I always understood that finding queen cells in a colony was the trigger for creating an artificial swarm, but that these cells (or one of them) should then be left for the old colony's next queen. The debate then is whether to leave a few and assume that the new queen's will fight it out, or whether to leave just one.
I personally dont destroy the cells that they have already started or capped. It gives them a three to eight day head start. Plus, each one of those cells is twenty to twenty five dollars after they are mated. I place them in mating nucs. If you have eight to ten cells in there, that is a couple of hundred extra dollars.
Hi Bear09871,
Thanks for stopping and commenting. Yes you are absolutely right, I would normally look to cut out and keep any extra cells from my better colonies and here in the UK they sell for anything from £25-£40.
I wanted to show how to control the timing of the new queen as much as anything hence cutting out the extra cells.
Where about's do you keep bees?
Stewart
What do your bees forage on? I'm guessing cotton produces a reasonable nectar flow?
Norfolk, UK is a really lovely county of England, very happy living here. Queens sell for a small fortune here because most beekeepers can't be bothered to learn how to produce their own or believe it's far too complicated for someone with jsut a couple of hives.
Queens from Europe get imported regularly too which seems madness to me, I'm all for raising my own queens and it's always such a good feeling when you get a good cross.
The new BT cotton is not very good anymore for a heavy nectar flow. Too much GMO engineering done to it. We have lots of wild sunflowers, horsemint and mesquite. The mesquite makes a really light clean tasting honey, really good.
We enjoying making our own queens as well. Enjoy seeing new queens that have mated well and its amazing how fast a new queen can lay compared to a little older caged queen.
Sunflowers, horsemint and mesquite sounds very nice, our main Summer crop comes from wild blackberries, I have several apiary sites surrounded by them and you can really taste them in the honey.
bear09871
Great vid and usual. Please can I ask why you knock back all the queen cells in the original hive, rather than keeping 1 to produce a new queen quicker?
Hi,
In this instance, it gave me greater control over the timing, we do very often leave sealed queen cells.
Stewart
thk u 4 ur reply. it been hot & cold, will follow up on what u said
Nice stuff. Very helpful, thank you
Hi Colin,
Thanks for commenting.
Stewart
Dear Stuart, thank you for the video's they are so helpful. Just a few questions regarding the artificial swarm process as I am going to attempt one this season, firstly I assume that you have to feed the colony that has the queen and the new frames? also can I perform an artificial swarm on a colony that is only 1 year old, it was a nuce that I had at the start of last season? Thank you in advance for any advice :-)
You can do an artificial swarm. If you feel you have enough bees and the weather is good it's worth a try if you want to increase. Make sure your queen is laying well and you have eggs. That is a must. If you have 7 of 11 frames full, it may be a good time. This is a great time of year here in northern Ireland, I'll be waiting until the end of the month before I do any manipulations. I'm not the guy you were hoping for but I hope that helps.
Hi i was on the phone to John beeman saunders today he told me about this is what he dose im neew to bee keeping and will be starting in 2020
Hi Stewart,
I see your new frames are wired but old ones are not.
What do you recommend using?
Hi, loved the video and apologies for the newbie question... Why did you destroy all of the queen cells in the original hive once you'd removed the queen? Wouldn't it be quicker to leave one and save the 14 days it takes them to make new queen cells? Thanks!
Hi Roberto,
It's perfectly fine to leave one queen cell and many people do just that including myself. Sometimes I like to set the timing to my diary and by removing all the queen cells it allows me a little more time to get sorted elsewhere.
If you leave one capped queen cell it will emerge in around 6-8 days depending on when it was sealed. As long as you know your timings that fine.
Have a great season.
Stewart
Hi Stewart,
A Beginner, just watched you doing a split,I did not understand why you made the hive queen less, I am thinking why not allow the existing queen cells to develope so providing a new queen to replace the one taken ?????
Hi Mike & Andy,
Removing the existing queen cells means that you are in control of the timing of when the virgin queen will emerge. There is nothing wrong with leaving a single, open queen cell but not any sealed. When you move the hive after seven days if there has been a new virgin queen emerge in the interim period she could lose her bearings when returning from a mating flight and end up in the wrong hive.
Stewart
mike_and_andy walters
Hi, I am a new beekeeper, could you tell me what is the purpose of destroying the existing queen cell, since the bees still have to create new queen cells. Thank in advance.
great video
Thank you, it is a good stuff!
Just watched. Never too experienced to watch a how to video. I noted after you had de queened the brood super you appear not to have replaced the queen excluder. I have read that people don’t use the excluder. Don’t see the point in that. I just wanted to check wether you have replaced excluder just that not shown on the video.
My second question relates to getting brood frames pre drawn ready to use in a nuc. Is it necessary, is it best practise, or is it just to speed up establishing a new nuc ready to move into a full brood box.
Thanks.
if you destroy all the queen cells in the old hive in order to stimulate the workers to raise more queen cells, of which only one is not then destroyed, why can you not destroy all queen cells bar one in the first place?
If you are unable to keep numbers of colony after doing artificial swarms, would you unite the colonies before winter?
Here in Brazil the Langstroth box doesnt have inner cover. We use a Basic roof. Why the inner cover has a hole?
Hi Stuart can i ask would you be able to just introduce a new queen in cage to the queenless hive rather than wait around for production of new queen cells,thxs
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the question.
Yes, you most cetainly can. If you have a spare queen then splitting the colony and introducing a queen into the queenless hive works just fine.
Stewart
Thanks. 👍
Thank you for the process, my question is when can we do it .... month?
Hi Sait Youcef,
Thanks for commenting. The process needs to be performed in the active season when the bees are best able to produce wax to rebuild and also have plenty of drones for the mating process. So for me here in the UK anytime from late April to August has been successful for me.
Stewart
Can I still put a super on the original hive after I've done an artificial swarm?
Hi,
Both colonies will be depleted of bees for a while so it may be prudent to wait a little if you're thinking of taking a crop of honey. We leave supers on to provide food for colonies and sometimes, with very strong colonies they do continue to fill them in a strong flow.
Have a great Season.
Stewart
I am just wondering when you take the frame with the queen on and put into the new hive can you be guaranteed there are suitable eggs on the remaining frames for remaining bees to raise a queen?
Hi Sandra,
if there are eggs in the cells the bees will make queen cells from those they choose. I've never had a colony not produce queen cells using this method.
Stewart
Hi Stewart,
I have a quick question. How far away do you usually move your original hive when doing a split?
Hi Patrick,
Good question, for the artificial swarm method I move it 2-3 metres away to one side, this prevents workers returning to the parent colony. I'm lucky in that I have large apiary spaces so have the room.
Stewart
@@TheNorfolkHoneyCo Hi Stewart, this is my first full year of bee keeping and I think one of my hives will need to be split this way. I have made some new space in the apiary about 25m away from the existing position. Is it ok, do you think, to move the new colony with the old queen over to that new site and leave the new colony in the existing position or will this cause problems for the bees?
@@stevebatchelor552 Hi Steve,
With the artificial swarm the old queen is placed in a new hive on the old hive position so that she collects all of the flying bees to her. Move the then queenless colony in the old hive across to the new position.
Stewart
@@TheNorfolkHoneyCo heh heh I think that's what I meant, I just was being stupid. Thankyou ever so much, that's really helpful to know!
What is the difference between artificial swarming and splitting hive as you did in your other video?
Hi Umer,
with an artificial swarm you are dividing the colony into specific groups, so you have the queen and all they flying bees but no queen cells in one hive and this is intended to prevent swarming at the new colony with the queen cells as they have no flying bees to be able to swarm. With a standard split all you are doing is dividing the hive and reducing the number of flying bees with the queen. This is usually enough to prevent immediate swarming but they can still swarm as the queen has mature flying bees and brood in her hive. I'll add it to my list of video's to create :)
Stewart
In the box with the queen, you had all foundation (other than the frame having the queen which you inserted.) All the field bees will fly back to that box. But field bees are not the right age to draw comb. They are too old. You have some nurse bees that are of the right age on the frame you inserted along with the queen. But is that enough nurse bees to draw all that comb? Even during a flow? Might you have shaken some nurse bees from the donor colony into the artificial swarm box to enhance the population of wax-producing young bees? Are implying that the field bees will lend a hand to draw out those frames of foundation?
will a hive try to swarm the first week of march, northern nevada
Hi Robert,
I'm not sure of your seasonal changes, but if it's Spring and you have drones starting to appear then it's possible, the earliest I've had swarms is late March. Maybe ask the question in our facebook group, "Stewart's Beekeeping Basics".
Hi Stewart. I was told about you at the BBKA convention in April, I am very happy you make these informative videos. But can you give me some advice please. I am a very new beekeeper (just 9 days) within 5 days they were preparing to swarm (charged queens cells seen) my bee tutor helped me that day by showing me what to do under my circumstances, he removed the Q.C's to give me time to prep for the inevitable. He is unable to constantly help me. I understand how to do the A.S but because my nuc was so large within just 5 days with no room left for the Q to lay we added a super making a brood and half. I assume I put that half brood on the original hive with the Q'less colony? My thinking is the old Q will end up with all the flyers going back to her so will be ok, yes? I also have a super on that is fully drawn and partly filled with nectar it makes sense to leave this on the hive with the with the incumbent (old) Q, am I on the right track here or way off?
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the comment, I'm glad you find the videos helpful.
I am assuming the old brood box is full of fully drawn brood frames. When you move the queen into the new hive the supers go with her, yes. Leave the brood filled super with the original queenless colony. So now you have the old queen on a frame of emerging brood which will give her a place to lay eggs, frames of foundation, flying bees and a super of food stores.
The old colony is queenless but has all the remaining brood.
Good luck with your beekeeping journey.
Stewart
The Norfolk Honey Company that’s great I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly. A.S will have to be done tomorrow now as weather in Leicestershire is not suitable today. Even if I don’t find charged QC’s shall I do the A.S tomorrow anyway as they are a large colony now and a swarm is inevitable at some point?
Stewart
I went through my hives today and found multiple queen cells.
It occurred to me that it might be best just to put the single frame back into the flying bee brood box with the queen and just one fat queen cell. Then the bees could choose either to keep the queen or raise a new one.....?
Also my brood is all on a WBC box and a half. What do you recommend doing with the half? I put it on the deep box for the flying bees. Is that OK?
Richard
Hi Richard,
If you leave a single queen cell it is most likely that the bees will swarm. The better option would be an artificial swarm. Brood and a half is always tricky, I would go with double brood if you have to as this gives you more options with same sized frames.
Stewart
Why do you destroy the existing queen cells, if you then leave them to build new queen cells?
Hi Colin,
If you leave sealed queen cells in place there is a chance they may drift back to the other hive and be destroyed. I prefer to knock them all down as this then puts me in control of the timings but of course, only if there are either eggs or very young larvae that the workers can then produce queen cells from.
Stewart
Hi Stewart, is this a Walk Away Hive?
Hello Stewart, thanks for your videos they are a great help. Like another beginner who left a comment I didn't understand why you removed all the queen cells from the original colony. Is it your intention to move the original colony again to a different location away from the new colony with the old queen?
I was recommended Ted Hooper's book to get started and he seems to believe eggs raised to Queens from the start to be superior to those starting out in a regular worker cell. Do you have a different view? Again, many thanks for your channel. A great resource for a novice. Ben
Hi Ben,
Thanks for the question, I probably didn't explain the process well enough in the video (put it down to being new in front of the camera!) Yes the hive gets moved a second time to the opposite side of the original site after a further seven days and so if a virgin queen has emerged from a queen cell left she may lose her bearings and fly into the hive on the original stand position and be destroyed by the old queen and her colony. I'm pretty sure Ted Hooper's book has a full explanation so I'll double check and come back to you if I have additional info. I'll make another artificial swarm video this Spring and go through the whole process again.
Stewart
Thanks Stewart. You're right the process is described in the book but despite having reread numerous times it didn't quite make sense to me until I watched your video. I'm working my way through all the videos and looking forward to the next one. Many thanks.
Hi and thanks for the vid, I am a noob in bee keeping, and already have 1 hive since last year, now I have a 2nd empty hive which will be useful for an artificial swarm, therefore will have 2 colonies if successful? Is this the correct way? Thanks for your advice.
Hi K,
An artificial swarm is a great way to increase from 1 to 2 colonies. Wait until the colony is really strong and the weather has warmed up to regularly allow inspections. If you find queen cells all the better but be patient and don't attempt it too soon.
Stewart
@@TheNorfolkHoneyCo Hi Stuart, many thanks for your advice, this was highly appreciated.
What if I can't find the queen? Is there any other options?
Hi Airtime Vu,
If you struggle with finding the queen I find moving the original colony away from it's stand and replacing with the new hive helps as a starting point. It will reduce the number of flying bees in the original colony dramatically giving you a much better chance of finding the queen. If you still can't find her, try splitting the original hive down into three or four nucs and then look again. If after all this you still can't find her put all the frames back into the original hive and take one frame loaded with eggs and open brood and put this into the new hive on the old stand position. If the queen is on the frame all good, if not the bees will make emergency queen cells and you have split the colony and prevented them from swarming.
Stewart
The Norfolk Honey Company ... Thank you for your help. I found my queen according to the suggestions. Is it acceptable that I can only move the new hive 10 meters away from the original spot?
Hi Stewart. I have just tried to follow method but came across one small problem, we couldn't find the Queen! Is there another method or have we got to keep looking for her. To give us a bit more time we have destroyed the queen cells but I know this is not a long term solution.
Hi Terry,
It can be a bit problematic when you can't find the queen.
Now that you have destroyed the queen cells you can simply divide the hive into two and carry out the same process as for an artificial swarm. The hive without the queen will produce queen cells and you can then carry on from there.
Stewart
Many thanks Simon and please continue with the excellent videos.
good evening to you stewart,i am a suscriber and a follower of your forced swarm method.i got tired of waiting for them to make of their minds so i split em.i,ll talk to you again in a week,tell you how it went.obtw,i am from the state of virginia in the usa,my typing suks but oh well.catch ya later passage creek bees over and out
Hi Paul,
Thanks for commenting.
I know what you mean about having to be patient and wait for the bees to do their thing, especially when the season sometimes feels really short. Good luck with the splits and I look forward to hearing about how it went.
Stewart
Good evening Stewart,its hard being an analog man in a digital world.Any way ,I got the split done,left the queen in the origional location with the flying bees and moved the rest to another location and all seems well.I havn't ever done it this way before so it;s gonna be interesting to see how it all works out.Question for ya,with most of my hives,the bees hang out at the entrance in abundance,they have plenty of ventalation and plenty of room I;m guessing it;s just plain hot,what do you think?It has been hot so hopefully that;s it.Talk to you soon,Paul
Hi Paul,
For an analogue man you're doing just fine in commenting :)
Good luck with the artificial swarm I'm sure it will work out just fine for you. Follow all the steps and it's normally pretty straightforward. The question about bees hanging out the front of the hive is a good one, I have had some of my colonies do it previously and it is due to the heat, we call it bearding as it looks like a beard on the front of the hive, the bees are just trying to cool everything down inside the hive.
Normally nothing to worry about.
Stewart
Thanks for the support,back in the 1970's beekeeping was pretty simple but now its complicated to say the least.I'm a self taught kinda person so the internet is my guide on things,again thanks for the helping hand,Paul
Hi Stuart, why destroy the queen cell and not choose one from the queen cell instead?
Hi Paras,
Thanks for the question.
Normally I destroy any capped queen cells as there is a chance that an early emerging virgin queen could drit into the hive with the old queen in it and be destroyed. You can leave uncapped queen cells but by destroying all of them (providing you have eggs) you can manage the timing of any further queen cells as you know exactly the time frame. You can then use extra queen cells in nucs etc if you want to remove some once capped.
Stewart
why take out the queen cells and wait a week for new ones when you already have made queen cells.
also how do u know what a strong queen cell looks like
Hi Steven,
With the artificial swarm there is a risk that a virgin queen could emerge early, fly out and mate at just the wrong time and return to the hive with the old queen in it. This may happen if you move the queenless hive from one side to the other to bolster the number of workers in the colony with the old queen.
Looking for a strong queen cell is a bit of a gamble and I don't think beekeepers ever get it 100% right everytime, but generally, a nice plump, uniformly shaped queen cell is what I look for. Having said that I have had some very good queen from small, emergency cells that I would normally cut out so it probably doesn't make a great deal of difference.
Stewart
Really unclear! Show us the actual movement of the hives please!
Just pick it up and move it to the side.
Here in Brazil the Langstroth box doesnt have inner cover. We use a Basic roof. Why the inner cover has a hole?