| Lots
of Bits to Look at
Honeybee Swarms
CBKA Show
Funnies
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Notes prepared by Cambridgeshire Beekeepers'
Association, in its BEE BUZZ series
On warm days in spring and summer, you may notice Large numbers of flying
bees, and then find a swarm of bees in a tight cluster on a tree branch or
in a hedge. These bees will usually not be aggressive, because they gorge
themselves on honey Before they leave the hive. A beekeeper can expect to
collect a swarm without being stung, but it is a good idea not to get too
close yourself!
Why do bees swarm?
Swarming is needed to
increase the number of colonies, especially as many natural (feral)
colonies die out each year. Honeybees live in large families or colonies,
headed by one queen, and containing, in the summer, up to 60,000 worker
bees and 300 drones (male bees). Worker bees prepare to swarm when they
are receiving an insufficient share of the queen's scent (pheromones). By
intensive feeding of larvae which would otherwise have grown into worker
bees, the bees produce a new queen, and the colony continues living in the
same place. The old queen and a few thousand bees leave en masse in a
swarm to set up a new colony elsewhere. After leaving the hive, the swarm
may settle on the branch of a tree near the hive, before moving off and
settling several hundred meters away, again commonly on a branch of a
tree, while the scout bees search for a cavity suitable for a permanent
home.
A Prime swarm is
about one third of a colony, and therefore could contain up to about
20,000 bees, occupying a volume of approximately 2.5 liters (4 pints). The
old queen, who stopped laying in preparation for swarming, leaves with the
swarm. Once it has found a new home, a swarm will settle down quickly, and
build honeycomb rapidly. The queen should resume laying within a few days.
A cast,
or after-swarm, is a quarter of a colony, or less. Typically, it contains
about 8,000 bees, which would occupy a volume of approximately one liter
(2 pi0~ ). The queen in a cast is likely to be only a few days old and
unmated. She will mate within a week, with up to ten drones (male bees),
and normally begin laying in a further, week.
Collecting a swarm
A swarm may be collected by cutting the branch on which it is resting, and
lowering it gently into a cardboard box or a hive. If this approach is not
possible, the bees can be shaken or brushed into a cardboard box, a straw
skep or a wooden hive. This process fills the air with thousands of
disturbed bees.
Once the bees have been shaken in, the box or skep is turned upside down
and placed, with a stone under one side to provide an entrance, on a board
or sheet on the ground. If the queen is inside the box or hive, the whole
swarm will usually stay there, particularly if they are provided with
food. The beekeeper will leave the box or hive close to where the swarm
was found, to allow the bees which are flying to join the rest of the
swarm in their temporary home. Once the bees have been disturbed, some of
them wi11 continue to fly until the day cools off or, on a warm day, until
it becomes dark. The beekeeper can return in the evening to close up the
container or hive with all the bees inside, and take it
away. (If a swarm is removed while some bees are still
flying, those bees will be lost from the colony, and will return to the
site of the swarm or go back to the original colony.)
Hiving a swarm
If the beekeeper puts the swarm into a
skep or cardboard box initially, he must transfer it to a hive before it
rains, so that the bees can be looked after more easily. There are two
ways to do this and both result in clouds of flying bees again! The skep
or box can be held upside-down above an open hive and tapped sharply. Most
of the bees fall into the hive and the beekeeper will quickly replace the
hive lid before they have a chance to climb or fly out. Alternatively, the
bees can be dumped onto a board outside the entrance to the hive. The
resulting heap of bees will soon spread out and begin to march in, fanning
their wings as they do so, to spread a pheromone (scent) to tell all the
other bees where to go.
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Hints for new (and old) exhibitors
In addition to the rules printed in the Show Schedule there are many
hints for showing in the CBKA HANDBOOK, last published and
distributed in January 1997 and sent to all subsequent new members.
Are you a Novice? If you have not won a honey class in any previous show
you may enter the Novice Class. Novices may of course enter any (or all)
other classes.
Jars Matching jars means standard squat jars
made by the same manufacturer with the same shoulder shape and overall
height and same pattern on the bottom. The jars do not have to have the
same mould number. Lids should be of the same pattern i.e. both flat
topped or both recessed, plain gold.
If you are new to beekeeping and do not have the official squat jars, John
Witter can supply them at £2 per 12. (£21 per 144)
We are all honey producers so every member is
eligible to enter the Producers' Classes U1 and U2. They are the only
classes for which you label jars as if for sale. Your labels must state
the contents (honey), weight (4549) and the producer's identity (name and
address). If you have not sold honey before, the easiest identity is a
small self-adhesive address label fixed to the back of the jar with a
'Member of CBKA' honey label on the front. As the judge must remove jar
lids, you may think it sensible NOT to put tamper-proof labels on jars in
this class.
Labels The only label on jars or other items
in all the other classes is the label with a competitor code e.g. Class A
123, supplied by the Show Secretary after he has received your entry form.
Getting honey in the right class Grading
glasses and assistance with using them will be available at Quy to
identify the lightness (or darkness) of your clear honey to get it in the
correct class (A, B, or C).
Keep your honey clean Inside a marquee
flapping in windy weather is not the ideal place to do the traditional
changing of lids in order to have a perfectly clean lid for showing. The
chances of introducing dust are quite high. Put on a clean lid at home and
transport your honey carefully so that as little honey as possible gets on
the underside of the lid.
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10 Questions with no (Sensible) Answers
Marlene Harris of Southend posed these questions in The Essex
Beekeeper.
Printed here by courtesy of BEES.
Do bees really think their knees are in some way superior?
What's so super about a box with no lid and no bottom?
Would scout bees be happier living in a tent?
Should a Commercial hive be registered as a business?
Is a marked queen always looking over her shoulder?
Should queen excluders be classed as anti-royalist?
How would you set about waxing a lyrical?
Who in their right mind would build on wax foundations?
If you keep bees in an apiary, where do you keep apes?
Why would any one want a honey comb?
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