Early Warning Signs Of Swarming

We are David and Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms and Honeybeesonline.com. Even though the National Weather Service claims that March will come in like a lion with very cold temps, spring is only 23 days away. Spring means SWARMS!!

Healthy colonies will swarm. If your hive makes it through winter they will likely swarm as soon as they can raise queens. Most colonies are already raising drones in preparation of mating with virgin queens from hives swarming. Are you ready? How do you get ready?

Why do healthy colonies swarm? Spring swarming is the natural way colonies reproduce. Your healthy colony must create another colony in order to keep the bee population strong. It's a good thing for bees to reproduce through swarming, but no so good for you.

When your hive swarms nearly 60% of your bees leave with the queen leaving behind queen cells. This  means that your hive doesn't have a queen and they are down in population by 60%. If you came out of winter with only 20,000 bees, now you only have 10,000 bees and no queen. You are in worse shape than when you started with a package. At least your package had a mated queen. To add to the risk factor, your multiple virgin queens must fight it out. Sometimes all virgin queens die in the fight leaving you with no hope for a queen because the brood is too old to raise a queen after 3 days. When the virgin queen takes her mating flight she faces the dangers of being eaten by a bird, not making it back to the right hive etc. And if you were hoping for a honey crop but your hive swarmed, your honey crop will be greatly reduced if not zero. 

Consider Taking My Spring Management, Swarming & Making Splits ONLINE COURSE...click here. Take it from the comfort of your home.

We are also offering a Spring Management course here at our training center on Saturday March 30th from 1pm-5pm. This class has 4 spots still open. REGISTER NOW.

You really cannot tell if your hive swarmed or not judging by the number of bees left behind. They can swarm when you are not home to see it. You don't even know they swarm until you realize your hive isn't performing well. This is why preventing a swarm is so important. Swarm prevention is challenging work and takes skill and a thorough understand of the anatomy of the colony. For example, even if you make room by adding a super, a reproductive swarm will likely still occur. A reproductive swarm is entirely different from a swarm caused from overcrowding. 

Even though hives begin giving off early warning signs of a swarm 30 days prior to swarming, sadly, beekeepers are uninformed on what to look for and how to take the necessary action to prevent swarming. 

Most beekeepers are convinced swarming will not happen to them and so they are not prepared. When your colony swarms, they will land on your property not far from your hive and hang on a tree for several hours or several days before they finally fly off to their new home several miles away.

Unfortunately, most beekeepers do not have a spare hive to catch and place the new swarm into and within a few hours the swarm flies away and is gone forever. Make sure you have a new, fresh hive ready to place these "free bees" into as their new home.

We sell an Emergency Swarm Hive Kit. This kit comes with a tie down strap that wraps around the bottom board, deep box and top cover. It also comes with a screen mesh entrance screen to keep the swarm in so you can transport it to their new location. This is handy to have on hand and even keep in your car or truck should you spot a swarm while traveling or should you get a call to retrieve a swarm. Be ready!

If a neighbor calls, or the local school knows you keep bees and they ask you to come catch a swarm, be prepared with this swarm kit. You can even make extra money removing swarms from homes. Drop your name and phone number to local police departments, home improvement stores and pest control companies. You will be helping out your community.

Do you know the early signs of swarming...Read What They Are In This Article

In my DAY IN THE APIARY online course, I actually catch a swarm in the field from a tree and coach you on how to place it into a hive. It's a priceless teaching tool if you've never caught a swarm. This class is available online...CLICK HERE

Sign Up Now. Join Me In Our Training Center

March 9th 1pm-6pm

REGISTRATION IS STILL OPEN

Register Now!

Come take a class with me, David Burns. I'm an EAS Certified Master Beekeeper. I've taught beekeeping classes for over a decade. You've seen me on YouTube, now join me for the afternoon on March 9th from 1pm-6pm. This is my last Beginner's class I'm teaching onsite for the year...LAST CHANCE. You can save shipping by picking up your beekeeping supplies at the same time. CLICK HERE NOW! I'll make room for you. Sign Up Now. Join Me In Our Training Center March 9th 1pm-6pm REGISTRATION IS STILL OPEN Register Now!

Your Bees Need Protein As Soon As Good Weather Allows Them To Fly

Here's a nifty little way to help your bees. Buy our pollen substitute powder and place it in a bowl or on a board in your bee yard in late winter and early spring. Add a tiny bit of honey to attract the bees faster. Then, watch them pack the powder in their legs and head back to the hives. It's so easy and fun to watch. Make sure you do this on dry days. 

 Click here to order now.

Don't Wait Until You're Desperate Or It's Too Late!  Make Sure You Have A Hive To Put A Swarm In.

It is essential that we feed bees in the spring. Even if fruit trees are blooming why not give them an added boost. Our feeding board is perfect spring. Holes are lined with screen to make changing jars easy by keeping the bees down. On a rainy, spring week, your bees cannot gather much needed food. Feeding your hive will speed up drawing comb. ORDER NOW

FREE SHIPPING    2+2 Kit    2 Hives + 2 Packages

It's better to start with two hives. 

You can swap frames to balance your hives during the year. If a queen dies, just move a frame of eggs over from the other hive. MORE DETAILS

1 Complete Hive FREE SHIPPING

If you have bees, they are likely to swarm. If you catch them and place them into a new hive you've just saved $130! Have a hive ready to put them in. Our hives are Amish made here in Illinois. Top Quality. Order now.

You Will Need Some Coaching This Spring?

Spring brings panic into the hearts of beekeepers. Knowing what to do and when is the tricky part of beekeeping every spring. 

-Do I reverse the deep hive bodies?

-When Can I Start Feeding?

-Should I let them raise a new queen or buy a new one?

-What is checkerboarding and how do I do it?

-How do I avoid spring farm sprays and will it kill my bees?

-Why does the new study on mites going to bee's fat bodies matter?

-Formic? Oxalic Acid?

-Does my honey have to be 18% in moisture content?

-What does the deadly American foulbrood look like?

-Why is chalkbrood and European foulbrood worse in the spring? And how can I prevent it?

Let me be your mentor. I have a special mentorship program called BeeTeam6 where you can call, email or text me concerns or questions you are having about your bees. Plus you receive a regular tip and an instructional beekeeping video. Even if you are not keeping bees yet, this is perfect to help you gain the education you need before you start. Or if you are starting this year, why not have the extra peace of mind by having someone you can consult. 

 

FIND OUT MORE

Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

www.honeybeesonline.com

217-427-2678

The Greatest Chance Of Your Bees Dying Is The Next 90 Days

Hey everyone! We are David and Sheri Burns and we've been teaching beekeeping classes and online lessons for a decade now! I started this blog in 2006 way back before blogs were cool. I turned 57 last week! I don't know what happened. I was just enjoying life and doing my thing when all at once I turned 57! I started keeping bees in my early 30s which really just seems like yesterday. Our passion has always been, and still is, to help the typical new beginner beekeeper get started the right way.

A very common and wrong approach to beekeeping goes something like this: A well intended individual looking for a new hobby decides to try beekeeping. They watch a few YouTube videos and run out to their local farm store and grab some equipment and bees, dump them into a hive hoping for everything to go well. If their bees do not die by fall, they die during the first winter.  If not the first winter, the second winter due to mismanagement by the new beekeeper. The sad thing is they don't know what they did wrong which means they will repeat their same mistakes next season.

This scenario is very common but very sad because many of the colonies that perish during the winter die under the "care" of the untrained beekeeper. You're probably thinking, "How does he know who I am?" It's because for over 10 years I have watched this happen to beekeepers over and over again. There are two ways to improve your beekeeping results: 1) Take a class and 2) Do what is taught in class. I'm not just trying to get you to fill up our classes. Our classes always max out. I'm trying to motivate you to take a class so you can learn to be a successful beekeeper and enjoy a lifetime of learning. Can't take a class? Let me be your personal mentor. Click here for more mentorship information.

Getting frustrated or feeling depressed or sad is a normal and understandable response when you discover your bees are dead. I remember losing my first hive. I couldn't believe that my bees would die...Read more

The bee season has began with a phenomenal start. We sold out of individual packages again in 17 days. We still have packages available which come in kits. So if you are new to beekeeping, you can always purchase a hive kit with bees and come join us for a class.

The Greatest Chance Of Your Bees Dying Is In The Next 90 Days

The greatest chance of your bees dying is the next 90 days. Even if it warms up and stays warms your bees are at risk.

Here in Illinois we've had a weird winter so far. We've had some very cold weather followed by warm weather followed by cold weather and the cycle goes on. My poor bees must be totally confused.

The ideal outside temperature for bees in the winter is around 40 degrees (f). Why? Because they are consuming very little food to produce energy to stay warm at this temperature. At colder temperatures the colony must consume more honey and pollen to operate their muscles to generate heat. On warmer days, like we had here on Saturday, bees become very active and take flight. This requires an enormous amount of food consumption for bees to break cluster and fly outside the hive. Now it is cold again. But on the warmer days the bees consumed more of their winter stores than if it had stayed cold. So now I'm having to monitor my Winter-Bee-Kinds on my hives more closely, about once a week.

It can be detrimental to feed your bees at the start of winter, but not follow through for the remainder of winter. Keep feeding your bees all winter. Make sure there is an ample amount of candy in your boards above the cluster. Refill your Winter-Bee-Kinds when needed with the recipe we provided or purchase a new one by clicking here.

Each day we gain a small amount of daylight. This too causes the queen to slowly begin laying more brood which requires more food. We've received several inches of rain this winter, not snow. This means that on those foggy and rainy days moisture in the hive likely increased as well which is never a good thing in the winter for bees. These factors combined means that the next 90 days are very critical, and that bees must be well fed with both sugar and pollen.

I checked on the bees here at our training center and they are all doing exceptionally well. Each one has one of our Winter-Bee-Kinds, providing protein and carbohydrates as well as providing insulation/ventilation to prevent excess moisture build up in the hive.

Watch my video I made a few days ago, January 21, 2017 as I checked on my bees in the middle of the winter. Click on the video image to play.

PLEASE DO NOT open up your hives in the winter to move frames around if the temperature is below 60-65 degrees (f). It's fine to open the lid quickly and change a Winter-Bee-Kind in any temperature because it takes less than 30 seconds and you are not moving frames. But I no longer open up and move frames around until winter is over no matter how warm it is. If you have prepared your bees properly for winter they should not require any frame manipulation during the winter months. Be patient for spring.

This Freedom Kit is our most popular kit. Can be purchased with or without bees. To view all of our kits, 

CLICK HERE

INDIVIDUAL PACKAGE BEES are sold out. We still have packages available with our hive kits such as the Freedom Kit above.

Are You Ready For Spring? Do You Know What To Do With Your Hives To Prevent Swarming Or To Make Splits?

We are offering two spring management classes and they are close to being sold out. Will you make the mistake of rotating your two deeps at the wrong time? Should you treat for mites in the spring? How soon should you try and capture the spring honey flow? Is your hive strong enough to make a split or will both the split and your hive collapse?  What is the best time and way to split hives? How soon should you worry about mites?

Here are the dates and times:

Spring Management Class: March 4th 9am-1pm

Spring Management Class: March 17th 9am-1pm

David and Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
www.honeybeesonline.com
217-427-2678

LESSON 93: Rotating Hive Bodies In Spring (www.honeybeesonline.com) 217-427-2678

Hello, we are David & Sheri Burns, beekeepers operating Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. Feel free to contact us at: 217-427-2678. We’re having the time of our life enjoying helping others get started in beekeeping.
In today’s Lesson, I will be explaining the importance of rotating hive bodies in early spring. Before we start today’s lesson, let me invite you to two our our upcoming classes.






LESSON 93: ROTATING HIVE BODIES
It's important for beekeepers to be well prepared to properly manage hives that have survived the winter. In our last lesson we looked into a more detailed look at the Demaree swarm prevention method. Use this acronym to help you remember how to prepare:

Stimulate For Rapid Foraging Force
Prevent Swarms
Rotate Hive Bodies Inspect The Productivity Of The Queen
New Queen
Give 1:1 Sugar Water & Pollen Patties

It is important for the second year beekeeper to understand how the bees gradually move upward in the hive during the winter. During the winter the cluster gradually moves upward into the top hive body eating its way into stored honey above the cluster.

Normally the colony is found in the upper deep hive body during the start of spring, leaving the bottom deep hive body empty of bees and honey. The colony will expand in the upper hive body but will quickly become congested and will not likely move down.
The congestion can cause the colony to swarm. Therefore, by reversing the hive bodies the main nesting area is placed on the bottom, giving the colony room to expand into the upper hive body thus elevating congestion and helping to prevent swarming.
This is referred to by beekeepers as rotating the hive bodies or also as reversing the hive bodies. Many beekeepers become too eager to reverse the hive bodies and make a mistake so huge that it devastates the hive, and the colony usually never fully recovers. So let me give some practical advice on rotating the hive bodies.
First, DO NOT ROTATE TOO EARLY. Many beekeepers rotate the boxes too early in the season when the nights are still below freezing.

While a large hive may not be too effected, a smaller hive can suffer from being moved to the bottom. Why? When they were in the top of the hive, they enjoyed living in the pocket of heat that became trapped in the upper part of the hive. This provided assistance in heating the newly reared brood. If the hive bodies are rotated and the temperature drops drastically from a surprise spring cold snap, the colony is now on the
bottom and may have difficulty keeping the brood warm. In Illinois I make it a firm practice never to make splits or rotate hive bodies until after May 1. I simply want warmer nights.
Secondly, many beekeepers make the mistake of not fully inspecting and locating the nesting area. Before reversing the hive bodies it is essential that the hive be inspected. If any of the capped or uncapped brood dips down into the lower hive body, DO NOT REVERSE. If the brood/nesting area was in the upper half of the lower deep, and into the lower half of the upped deep then rotating will damage and break up the brood area and the hive will likely not recover throughout the summer.
So before rotating, make sure there is no brood in the lower hive body. It must be empty of brood, capped or uncapped. If there are some bees in the lower hive, but no brood, it is okay to rotate.

Rotating Hive Bodies & Cleaning Out Bees That Died In Winter

Let me summarize rotating hive bodies:
* Be sure the nights are warm enough not to chill the brood.
* Check and make certain all capped and uncapped brood is found in the upper hive body.
* To rotate, simply reverse the locations of the hive bodies. Place the bottom one on top and the tope one on the bottom.
...in our next article Inspecting The Productivity Of The Queen


Thanks for joining us today and here is our contact information:
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020. E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
(217) 427-2678
http://www.honeybeesonline.com/
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com

Lesson 92: Swarm Prevention, Demaree Method (www.honeybeesonline.com) 217-427-2678

We are David and Sheri Burns from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. Our main website is: www.honeybeesonline.com

Hi we are David and Sheri Burns at honeybeesonline.com  Please visit our Main Website at: http://www.honeybeesonline.com

 

ADVANCE BEEKEEPING COURSE JUNE 11, 2014 9am-3pm Central Illinois!!

Have you considered the importance of taking our one day Advance Beekeeping Course?  I'll be joined by my good friend and fellow certified master beekeeper Jon Zawislak. Jon and I have written a book on queen rearing and we recently authored a two part articled published in the American Bee Journal on the difference between Northern and Southern bees. Jon and I will be teaching our Advance Beekeeping course June 11, 2014 here in Fairmount, Illinois and we have around 6 seats available. You don't want to miss this opportunity to be around me and Jon and learn about bees for a whole day. Click here for more information.

Check out our entire list of beekeeping classes we offer by clicking here.

Welcome to Long Lane Honey Bee Farms Online Lessons! Visit our MAIN WEBSITE AT: http://www.honeybeesonline.com We have a complete line of hives that we build right here in Illinois. We offer classes, sell queens and much more. Give us a call at: 217-427-2678. Our hours are: M-Th 10am-4pm, Fri 10-Noon Central Time.
Thanks for joining us today as we continue to look at important preparations for hives that survive the winter. We call these hives overwintered colonies. Today we’ll specifically look at an effective swarm prevention method known as the Demaree method.
But first, let me thank you for your interest in honey bees. Thank you for realizing how important honey bees are to our food supply. 1 out of 3 bites of food is the result of honey bee pollination. Do your part by keeping bees.

LESSON 92: SWARM PREVENTION
It's important for beekeepers to be well prepared to properly manage hives that have survived the winter. In our last lesson we looked at how to stimulate the colony to produce a large population of foraging bees prior to the first strong nectar flow. In this lesson we look into the very challenging task of swarm prevention. I'm using an acronym to make it easier to remember 6 important management practices to implement in the SPRING and today we'll look at number 2, Prevent Swarms.
Stimulate For Rapid Foraging Force

Prevent Swarms
Rotate Hive Bodies

Inspect The Productivity Of The Queen

New Queen

Give 1:1 Sugar Water & Pollen Patties
In this lesson, we'll look at a few techniques to prevent swarming. Swarming is probably the greatest cause of low honey production.

First, I'll give some important bullet points on swarming, then I'll give three swarm prevention methods. Keep in mind that swarming is not completely understood and no matter what methods are used colonies may still swarm. There is no 100% sure method that works every time.
* 60 percent of the colony swarms with the older queen.
* Clipping a queen's wing does not prevent swarming, because they will wait and swarm with the new, virgin queen.
* The primary cause of swarming is congestion in the brood area of the hive.
* The swarm is made up largely of young bees at the optimal age for producing wax since the swarm must quickly build new comb.
* A large hive (one that has not swarmed) has more foraging bees than bees caring for brood even though the large hive has more brood. In other words, once a hive swarms it will greatly reduce its ability to produce surplus honey.

* A healthy colony will swarm in order to reproduce another colony.
* Colonies are most likely to swarm during spring and early summer during the start of a nectar flow.
* Colonies with queens that are more than 1 year old are more likely to swarm.
* Keeping a young queen in the hive is a very effective swarm control method.
* A colony makes queens in preparation to swarming and as soon as the newly created queen cells are capped, they can swarm at any time.
* Beekeepers who capture swarms often have queen issues afterward because the swarm is accompanied by the old queen that may soon die or not lay well, and be unsuccessfully replaced.
* The main swarm is headed by the old queen, and normally additional swarms (afterswarms) are headed by virgin queens.
Swarm prevention has always been a challenge. There are many methods to control swarming, but three are most often followed: 1) Reversal of brood bodies 2) Providing a young queen 3) Demaree method
Reversal of Brood Bodies
During the winter the cluster gradually moves upward into the top hive body eating its way into stored honey above the cluster. Normally the colony is found in the upper deep hive body during the start of spring, leaving the bottom deep hive body empty of bees and honey. 
The colony will expand in the upper hive body but quickly becomes congested and will not likely move down. The congestion will likely cause the colony to
swarm. Therefore, reversing the hive bodies places the main nesting area on the bottom, giving the colony room to expand into the upper hive body thus elevating congestion and helping to prevent swarming. We'll talk more about this method in our next article as it is part of our SPRING acronym.
Providing a Young Queen
As the queen ages she is less likely to produce queen pheromones as strongly as a young queen. With the reduced queen pheromone the hive is more likely to swarm. Providing a new queen is part of our SPRING acronym so I will deal with this more in a future article. But for now, realize that a new queen each year can greatly reduce swarm tendency.
Demaree Method of Swarm Prevention
When I began studying for the master beekeeping certification, I learned about the Demaree method to prevent swarming. It frequently shows up on the
tests and I’m glad I studied it, because it showed up on last years test. George Demaree was a beekeeper from Kentucky who came up with an effective method of swarm control in 1892 which separates the queen from the brood. It requires more colony manipulation, but the method is effective.
For demonstration, our hive under consideration will have two deep hive bodies and let's assume the queen is laying well and there is capped and uncapped brood throughout the two deep hive bodies.

1) Examine the frames and cage the queen so that you do not injure her while moving frames.

2) Move frames of capped and uncapped brood into the upper deep hive body. If both deep hive bodies have brood that will not fit into the upper deep hive body, use a third deep hive body. Replace the brood frames that you moved up with empty drawn combs.

3) Place the queen (release her if she is in a cage) into the bottom deep hive body and place a queen excluder to hold her down into this bottom deep hive box.

4) Now, place drawn comb into a new deep hive body and place it on top of the bottom deep that has the queen excluder on it (in the middle of the two deeps).

5) In 7 to 10 days go through the upper hive body and destroy all queen cells. Since the queen is held down to the bottom of the hive, this upper box could start raising their own queen. But once you destroy any cells, they cannot raise another one because the brood is too old to raise a queen. Now you can remove the queen excluder. The bees have been given more room, the queen has been given more room and no bees have been lost due to swarming. And the bees will begin to fill the upper hive body once the brood has emerged.
...in our next article The Details of Reversing Hive Bodies

Thanks for joining us today! Here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms we appreciate you business. Contact us to order all your woodenware (hive equipment), beekeeping equipment and supplies. We appreciate your support. 217-427-2678 or visit our website at: www.honeybeesonline.com
HERE’S OUR CONTACT INFORMATION:
PHONE: 217-427-2678
EMAIL: david@honeybeesonline.com
WEB: www.honeybeesonline.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/longlanehoney
See you next time,
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020 E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841