My contribution to the native bee population

[CBEE]

I have been in and out of town the last couple weeks and have not been able to get into the hive. Came home today and walked over the hill to check them and the blasted thing was in the middle of swarming :roll:
 Saw them land over in the thickest part of the jungle behind the house and crawled in and found them about 10 feet upin a locust sapling. It was so thick I had to clear things out a bit just to get around the tree and have enough room to hive them. Came back to get a box to put them in and was gone about 20 minutes. When I got back to the place they were at they were gone :evil: I searched about 2 hours but its so thick I could not find them. Stuck out a med super on a bottom board up on a ladder and a couple carboard boxes that are close to the size of  a med super about 10 ft off the ground in hopes they may find one. I was hoping to split this hive next week when I have time But they beet me to it :evil:

[doak]

This is the time of year you have to keep a good eye on things.
They build up fast now and will get crowded quick.
With a good laying queen it don't take long for them to get crowded.
I had to add another super today on the one that was slowest getting started.
It is one of the only two that hasn't swarmed this season.
I had one swarmed and I split it and it swarmed  again.
Have lost 3 swarms to the wild this spring.
Nothing I can do when they're 40 ft in a tree.
I didn't take care of my swarm prevention practice this year like I have been doing.
And it is coming back on me.
This time of the year I try to look in every 5 to 7 days.

I have 2 confirmed new queens from my two splits,
but the first one lost the queen on the mother hive.
On my second split, the one that swarmed twice is not showing a new queen in the
mother hive, but it's been only 14 days. I was in it today and all the old brood hasn't finished
emerging yet. I'll give it another week.
doak

[CBEE]

I was told I should rotate the broodnest to help keep them from throwing another swarm. what do you all think?
It appears that some swear by it and some say its a waste of time.
  If there are still queen cells should I bite the bullet and split them now? I was hoping to get some honey off this hive.
How far does set the hive back now that they have swarmed ?
By the way. My wife sells Avon and the boxes they ship the stuff look to make dandy swarm traps. The end has about a 2 inch lip that will peel down and make a landing board and then just cut a small hole for an entrance.

[Michael Bush]

If the hive still looks strong, I'd probably split it.  If it looks like it's no longer crowded I'd add some supers and wait it out.

[doak]

For rotating, Yes I have done it a few times.
The only time is when the queen will not go back down and I do not want to use the  queen/honey  excluder or I don't want to split.
Doing it after the colony  swarms is like locking the barn door after the horse is stolen.
If their are lots of bees left after (the first) swarm is a good time to split, "IF" there is more than 3 capped queen cells.
doak

[CBEE]

Thanks for the info. I was't too sold on the rotating thing. I figured you could swap a frame or 2 and accomplish more or at least the same result.
I wont be able to check them until saturday due to the rain today and tomorrow.
If there are still queen cells I will take your advice and do a split.