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Author Topic: What are the signs of swarming?  (Read 8682 times)

Offline jimmy_in_texas

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Re: What are the signs of swarming?
« Reply #20 on: March 16, 2008, 03:24:35 am »
Thanks everyone for the information, unfortunately I wasnt able to inspect the brood chamber today because I had some neighbors cutting grass somewhat near the hive, the colony is really going strong right now and you cant get near it without bees running into you,  my bees also get very irritable when the smell of cut grass is in the air.

I have 2 deeps and a shallow super I put on 3 weeks ago, I was able to take a quick peek at the super and nothing has been drawn on any of the frames, there were however lots of bees on the frames, this is also the first full spring for the two deeps, the bottom one was one I wired in some feral comb and bees last may, I put the second deep on when they filled out most of the first one, I suppose this should be small cell or something close. unfortunately I used standard plasticell in the second one, they still managed to fill all the frames by fall with constant feeding, I probably over did it with so much stores for the mild winters we have here and helped with congestion,  I also just made up some frames with small cell, so maybe tomorrow I'll see what condition the two deeps are in, and follow everyones advice, not sure what I'll do if all frames have brood on them though, maybe put them in 1 and 10 in the top deep and remove the honey if thats all they contain? 

one things for sure, I'm wearing my full suit instead of just the veil and shorts as usual, the past few weeks they seem to be more aggressive than usual, I dont think their going to appreciate a major housecleaning. I hope theres not a lot of burr comb to cut away.

what a great hobby this is, I cant wait for my first honey,  I thought I was a pretty patient guy, but you learn new levels with these girls.

Thanks all.