by WALT WRIGHT
Elkton, Tennessee

The literature is full of references to hive body reversal as a inducement to accelerate spring buildup. It may be appropriate in some areas, but it has the opposite effect in middle Tennessee. It is possible that this is a side effect of the presence of parasitic mites or it could be that reversal was never advantageous for this area.

Although two full depth brood chambers are most often used, this diagram shows simple reversing for spring swarm control. The management idea is to put the queen and brood down below and put the bottom empty hive body on top to give the queen more laying room since bees normally move up as the brood nest expands. Mr. Wright challenges this often quoted management technique in his article.

Although two full depth brood chambers are most often used, this diagram shows simple reversing for spring swarm control. The management idea is to put the queen and brood down below and put the bottom empty hive body on top to give the queen more laying room since bees normally move up as the brood nest expands. Mr. Wright challenges this often quoted management technique in his article.

Spring buildup progresses much better when the bees are operating into their honey overhead. When cut off from their honey dome, expansion of brood area stops completely for two to three weeks. We had been convinced in prior years that this was true and had not reversed in several years. This year we tried it again under controlled conditions. Only the strongest were reversed. Knowing that separation from the honey dome retards expansion, only the hives that we felt had enough bees to span the empty hive body were reversed. We guessed wrong. The hives that were reversed were uniformly retarded.

The retardation was conspicuous in a small out yard of six hives. In late winter, three were too strong and three were moderate in population. In mid March, the three that were too strong were reversed and the three of moderate strength were not. Checking weekly, for two weeks, those reversed showed no improvement and the moderates advanced normally. On the third week, we were prepared to back out of the reversal and unreverse, but we found that the reversed hives had overcome the setback and were progressing on a par with their formerly weaker cousins. All six then performed fairly equally through the honey season. Reversing had not helped the spring buildup, but had been a rather left-handed way to equalize.

In rereading old magazines, we found one reference to hive body reversal as a swarm prevention technique. Putting on the brakes to brood area expansion would very likely be some help to swarm control. But other aspects, or effects, would seem to offset the advantages.

An interesting side effect of the reversal was that most of the hives that suffered the retardation, started supersedure cells. The bees apparently interpreted the slowdown in brood expansion as a problem with Mama. Some came out of the slowdown without completing the supersedure process, but others raised replacement queens. Supersedure could produce another break in brood production.

With the bees and the Tracheal Mite in a population race, it does not seem prudent to introduce a double break in the bees’ normal population acceleration. We conclude that reversing hive bodies is counterproductive (in this area) because it gives the Tracheal Mite an advantage in the race.

It should be noted that the bees in this area do not normally move upward during the spring buildup leaving empty comb below. When two hive bodies are properly filled in the fall, the bees will winter in the lower and fill it with brood in the late winter. As stores are consumed in the upper, the brood nest is expanded into the bottom of the upper, while maintaining brood in the lower hive body. The expansion continues until both are full of brood. We suspect that the availability of both pollen and nectar on most flying days after early February is the primary factor. Stores are replaceable in late winter and early spring, and the availability supports a stable and expanding brood nest. It is not necessary to move up into stores. If this premise were confirmed, it would be possible to conclude that reversing hive bodies was never appropriate for this area. The primary reason we would have an empty hive body on the bottom is that was not filled and occupied in the late fall.

The reader is in a better position to evaluate the pros and cons of reversing for his location. But keep in mind that the bees do much better when operating into overhead honey stores. For lack of a better description, we will call it honey dome management. If there is any way to avoid it, do not separate brood from their honey dome.

We can move an empty hive body to the top because we winter in two hive bodies and a feed box (shallow or Illinois). If the brood is in the top hive body, the band of open cell feed honey is located in the feed box. Placing the empty hive body above the feed box does not separate them from their honey dome, but then, that is not literally “hive body reversal.”

In all the references we’ve seen on reversal, no cautions were included. The problem described above would not be applicable if the bees had been wintered in two hive bodies only, but we have not seen any restrictions on the universally recommended reversal of hive bodies.

by WALT WRIGHT
Elkton, Tennessee

It seems to me that some experts are still giving advice based on the pre-mite era. The whole ball game is different now. Since we are going to have mites for some time, it seems we should be making adjustments in our operations to account for mite effects. The following discussion deals with effects of the tracheal mite since that mite has the largest impact on spring build-up.

Figure 1 is a seat-of-the pants chart based on observation only. No data of scientific sources have been used in preparation of the chart. It is presented here for illustration only and to give a point of reference for the discussion. We are going to treat the ways to make spring die-outs (March) and survivors into producers.

Editor's Note: Mr. Wright does not discuss Varroa control or foulbrood control, but assumes the beekeeper will be controlling these two serious problems as well. He does not mention that tracheal mite control may also be achieved through requeening with tracheal mite resistance queen stock such as ARSYC I Carniolans or Buckfast Stock.

The spring buildup, or lack thereof, is plotted against boxes of hive bodies of bees. The more tracheal mite infestation, the steeper the decline in early winter. Badly infested colonies do not survive into the first January brood rearing. Less severely infested colonies may die out later or squeak by. The hives that we have designated as survivors are just that. They survive but do not get strong enough to produce surplus honey. We all understand what a producer colony is, but, of course, they also come in degrees of effectiveness.

As noted under the chart there are variations within the boundaries of the winter die-out and the producer. If a colony makes it to the first brood emergence, and the rate of decline is steeper than the increase in bees resulting from that first emergence, they can still crash into the second and third brood cycles. If detected early enough, these late crashers can be salvaged. If the losses can be stabilized early, that colony then becomes a survivor. The same efforts required to make a survivor into a producers are appropriate for the stabilized late crasher.

Editor’s Note: Mr. Wright does not discuss Varroa control or foulbrood control, but assumes the beekeeper will be controlling these two serious problems as well. He does not mention that tracheal mite control may also be achieved through requeening with tracheal mite resistance queen stock such as ARSYC I Carniolans or Buckfast Stock.

The chart is based on conditions for the state line of Alabama/Tennessee between Huntsville and Nashville. Here, fruit bloom is late March for most varieties and apples bloom the first week of April. Many native honey sources are available the second half of April. That means that we only have three brood cycles to get to that point. Using these reference points, perhaps you can apply the information to your location.

The critical factor to hive survival is the size of the emergence of the first brood cycle. If the colony does not get to that point with sufficient bees to raise brood in the first cycle, they are winter die-outs and nothing can be done to help them. If all colonies have T. mites, the attrition rate is greater - even for the strongest. In the pre-mite era, loss of winter bees was also variable from fall conditions and percentage of young bees that started into the winter. To those variations now we have to add variation in loss rates attributable to degree of T. mite infestation. It is probably safe to say that no matter what your mite treatment program may be, the winter bee loss rates will be greater.

The accelerated winter loss makes it mandatory that we obtain the status of the hives as soon as possible. The first flying day in February we open hives and apply grease patties to protect the young bees emerging. They will have consumed all of the grease mix within the cluster perimeter that was applied in the fall. Our criteria for suitable weather conditions for grease application is just that the bees be flying.

The bees are not hampered by wind chill as we are, and it sometimes feels too cold when the temperatures are in the low fifties with a good breeze blowing. On this first grease patty pass we note hives needing attention promptly. A hive with an apparent hive body of bees gets a dose of grease and closure with no inspection. They are in good shape and no time is wasted. When a cluster is smaller than a full hive body, one frame is lifted from the center of the cluster to confirm brood is present. The frame only has to be lifted an inch or two to see brood.

A word of caution! Do not declare them queenless if you find no brood or eggs. The first brood cycle is laid in a batch. The queen then shuts down production of eggs for the all-capped period. After emergence of the first cycle, she has to crank up again to lay for the second cycle. When you see a queen at this time of the year she is often quite small if she is in this inactive period. Queen breeders take note: Getting into the laying mode in the shortest period after an all-capped period is in the best interest of the T. mite resistance.

Back to the first grease inspection. Should you find an apparently queenless colony, make a note to check again in about a week. Anything less than a full hive body of bees is in danger of being a late crasher. We draw an outline of the cluster on the back of the hive body so that we can tell on subsequent visits whether they are losing or gaining in the race with the mite. Anything smaller than a basketball-size cluster is probably in trouble and corrective action should be taken at the earliest opportunity.

We have resurrected clusters smaller than a football. What is needed are additional bees that are not likely to be heavily infested themselves. You could turn the mite loss around with a purchased package, if packages were available at that time of year. But we make do with what we have from other colonies. The first line of defense is genuinely queenless colonies. We lose many more colonies from queenlessness than mite kill. Add the queenless colonies to the smallest clusters at the earliest opportunity. This will normally stabilize the mite loss and give you more time to bring them up to normal strength. If on your first inspection you noted some exceptionally strong colonies, you have bees available that presumably are lightly infested. Because we winter with two hive bodies and a shallow feed box, we can remove the feed box with patrolling bees and place it over small clusters to supplement healthy bees. The super can be returned on a cold morning. You can probably find more efficient ways to move bees from the haves to the have nots, but this is good enough to stabilize mite loss. A wet super will collect a lot of bees in a short time.

At this time of the year you must provide bees. You can’t improve the situation by moving brood. They are raising all the brood they can keep warm with temperatures dropping below freezing on a regular basis.

By the time you get the losers stabilized, you are into the second brood cycle (see chart) and the next time you ripple through you should see an increase. In early March here, the increase is quite obvious. The healthy hives appear to have doubled and infested hives have improved to a lesser degree. Any that haven’t improved, or are still losing the race, need more bees added as above.

Since the weather is moderating, you can consider moving some brood with bees to beef up the survivors. You might want to do it incrementally. Start with just two or three panels of capped brood and enough bees to keep it covered for the first few days. Take bees and brood from the strongest hives by placing the box to be used to transport bees on the bottom board of the hive contributing brood. Collect incoming bees until enough are in transport box to keep brood warm. We use a sheet metal slide (migratory cover metal with one end cut off) to contain the bees between locations.

Toward the end of March (after the third brood cycle), you can move a whole hive body of brood with adhering bees to the slower survivors. We put a frame of honey on the outside, a frame of pollen in 2 and 8 slots, and five frames of capped brood in the interior slots. Suitable frames of honey and/or pollen will be available from die-outs or queenless colonies. The five frames of brood can be acquired from two or more hives that appear strong enough to start thinking swarm.

Under certain conditions of mite loss and brood rearing, the population stabilizes at a point where there is no gain. This results in a cluster that is honeybound. They cannot increase because there are no additional cells to use for brood. We have tried several ways to provide additional empty cells above the cluster, without separating them from their honey overhead. All seem to help some to break the honeybound gridlock, but at this writing we are not prepared to offer a sure-fire cure for the condition.

The survivors that were augmented in these ways in 1994 produced a couple of supers of honey. While these techniques may not be cost effective for the larger producers, they are helpful to the hobbyist or sideliner.

Walt Wright
Box 10
Elkton, Tn. 38455
615-468-2059

by WALT WRIGHT
Elkton, Tennessee

THE URGE
The bees’ desire to swarm is the basic urge of reproduction. Since they have evolved the complex swarming mechanism to perpetuate the species, it has the compelling force of the mammalian sex drive. Experiments performed with other animals have demonstrated that the sex urge rates favorably with other primary urges such as self preservation.

The general colony management plan is oriented toward the reproductive urge of swarming. It starts with selection of a nest site. Experiments have shown that the scouts select a cavity just under a bushel in size, when larger and smaller cavities are available. Its sufficient volume to store ample winter supplies, when plugged, and small enough to create congestion early in the build up. The early swarm generated by this congestion has the best chance of survival. That is real forward thinking on the part of the scouts making the nest-site selection.

SWARM GAME PLAN
The “Swarm Game Plan” is comprised of some delicate scheduling and the raising of all three types of bees. The drones and queens raised are intended to support the perpetuity of the parent colony. Workers are needed to populate the swarm and maintain the parent colony after swarm exodus. The more workers available to include in the swarm, without jeopardizing the parent colony, the better assurance of success for both.

You experienced beekeepers, bear with us a minute or two while we plow through this stuff that is quite familiar to you. We’ll start with worker rearing since that is already in progress prior to swarm preparation.

The bees have fine-tuned their approach to raising workers into an efficient process. The experts tell us that the newly emerged young bee progresses through a series of job assignments, starting with cell cleaning, and larvae feeding. It’s not an accident that those duties are exactly what is needed to raise another cycle of bees in the cells just vacated. Their physiological development is in the proper stage to support those duties. After the next cycle is capped, the new bees can graduate to other duties. The brood cell turnover is not on a one-for-one basis. The number of available brood cells is increasing as a result of stores consumption. Each hatch-out must be able to cover the additional work load of the cells where stores have been depleted.

Raising of drones starts on the second or third brood cycle. Since drones require some maturity to be effective, some lead time is required. Drones are raised for either supersedure or swarming needs. The buildup period is the first time in several months that the existing queen has been called on to produce eggs at a demanding rate. If the bees even suspect that she is not up to the task, they do not hesitate to supersede her early. The drones raised for this contingency are available to support swarming requirements, but the bees continue to raise additional drones through the buildup whether they decide to swarm or not.

When mature drones are present or imminent and congestion has been achieved, two of the three prerequisites for swarm commit are in place. Stores are the final element. Nectar and pollen must be available. At swarm commit, the consensus is that we will swarm. At that point construction of queen cells gets underway. The queen cells are timed such that the first emerging queen can be lost on a mating flight and back up queens are available.

The swarm will normally get airborne prior to emergence of the first queen. The timing of the queen’s trim down for flight is a little touchy. She must lay eggs for the later queen cells, but she must be in a nonlaying mode on swarm day. With queen development requiring only 16 days, some tight scheduling is in order.

During the time that the queen is not laying in an effort to trim down for flight, scouts are scouring the area for potential nest sites. Nest-site selection is a democratic activity. When the scouts reach a consensus on the best location, they maintain a small force there to stake out that site until swarm day.

The “Swarm Game Plan” can be summarized in two words; make bees. The objective is to duplicate the parent colony. This is done with worker bees and the existing queen.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Most of the above is common knowledge to the average beekeeper, but there are a few other observations that we would like to identify in the context of swarm cause and effect. Review this list of assorted observations to see if you can tell where we are headed in Part II. These observations were noted from over a hundred hives of bees of unknown ancestry. From their appearance, several origins are represented. They were accumulated from swarms and tear-outs of buildings and are generally feral bees in hives, so the observations are made on a fairly good cross section of genetic background.

1. A vigorous queen can lay enough eggs to keep about two and a half hive bodies of brood rotating in successive brood cycles. If she is constrained to less brood volume than her peak production capability, she has idle time. In our 9-frame-brood boxes, the outside frame of honey is held in reserve and the second from outside is normally the pollen stash. This leaves 5 frames for brood.

2. The bees resist storing above their honey dome. This may be because in the wild the top is a constant. A new swarm settling in a cavity, goes to the top and builds comb downward. Any excess honey is stored at the top and sides of the brood nest. In this configuration, there is no place to store nectar above their band of open-cell feed honey; any additional space is sealed honey. Our flexible top hive is an aberration to the bees and “moving into the supers” is an unnatural course for them.

Pursuing this thought one step further, when supers are added above a queen excluder, the excluder is a barrier initially. Fortunately for us, the bees are quite adaptable and learn to cope with both the flexible top and the porous barrier.

3. When the nectar flow starts, broodnest expansion stops. The nectar has to be stored in cells available. The band of open-ceIl feed honey is expanded downward into the brood nest. In this area, we often have the second hive body full of nectar, where brood had been, prior to storing in the supers.

4. We see reason to suspect that the newly emerged bees are loyal to the area of comb from which they emerged. When a frame of perfect brood comb is added for brood taken, the bees ignore the new frame of brood comb, even in the middle of their brood nest, for some time (”It’s not MY room to tidy up.”) The work force to prepare that frame for eggs emerged elsewhere. A frame of foundation substituted for a frame of brood during the buildup becomes a ladder only. All that happens to it during the buildup is that it becomes travel stained. Drawing comb is not in the “Swarm Game Plan” at all.

5. In the buildup to swarm commit, the bees only look up. The configuration of the hive below the brood nest is not of interest. We know they are reluctant to expand into an empty lower hive body. The primary focus is on the area of open-feed cells between the brood nest and the stores above. That is where the action is. The effort is concentrated on raising brood and expanding the volume of the brood nest up into stores.

6. Bees not required to support the primary mission, or not mature enough for foraging, like to lounge in the warmth rising off the brood nest. This concentrates most of the bees in the top of the hive. The likelihood of congestion increases with each wave of newly emerged bees generated by another brood cycle. Congestion is the goal, because it is necessary to initiate “swarm commit”.

The increase in bee population is sometimes referred to as an explosion. It’s only an explosion if you do not understand the mechanics of the process. The air space between combs cannot contain the bees that emerge from both sides of that space. Further, the brood volume will about double by the third brood cycle. We’ll let the college kids do the arithmetic, but it’s easy to see that the hive soon runs out of airspace upstairs in which to contain the additional bees. The new bees created by brood-nest expansion into consumed honey have much greater volume than the stores depleted.

The extra bees are overhead in two senses of the word. They are literally “upstairs” and the intermediate age bees are not gainfully employed in the primary mission. The growth in numbers of overhead bees causes the density to increase and the volume to move downward. This is occurring at the same time that brood nest expansion is moving the activity center (feed cell band) upwards. When the two overlap, the excess bees interfere with the primary mission of feeding young.

7. The bees will make brood space to raise drones even if they have to rework worker cells to drone size. They will even locate drone-sized cells in the overhead honey across several inches of capped honey. They will dry those remote cells and escort Mama up there to fill them with eggs. Those cells may be out of the general outline of the cold-night cluster, but some bees are detailed to take care of that mandatory drone brood.

8. The bees prefer to expand their brood nest laterally rather than upward. If you look at freestyle comb on a flat overhead surface, you find many slabs of comb that are wider than they are deep. The outside slabs are solid honey top to bottom, and there may be several on both sides. Since the attachment surface is only inches above the brood nest, any expansion of the brood nest has to be into adjacent comb.

We recognize that this entry is contrary to conventional wisdom on the subject, but we feel that is a result of that wisdom being distorted by the limitations of the standard hive (see item 1). A small cluster will move laterally into capped honey before there is any significant expansion upwards.

9. It seems that when the bees start to work in the supers, the drive to swarm is lessened. They may still swarm while working in or filling the supers, but the route to swarm commit is not quite as direct or single purpose. Further, if the brood nest breaks through the honey barrier and brood is raised in the honey supers, all interest in swarming is gone.

Walt Wright
Box 10
Elkton, Tn. 38455
615-468-2059

by WALT WRIGHT
Elkton, Tennessee

In Part I, we provided some random observations of elements of behavior that we consider significant. Inclusion of the classic swarm game plan was probably overkill because it is common knowledge among beekeepers. The main thrust of Part II will be to apply the random observations that are less publicized, included in Part I as Other Considerations. To get there, we will dabble in what works and what is inappropriate for our area. For “our area” you might draw an arc from north Texas through Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland. These regions receive roughly the same effects from winter/spring frontal systems pushing out of the northwest. A band of area inside that arc will be somewhat later in development. You northern beekeepers should not cast this concept aside just because the stage of brood cycle development is not appropriate for you.

WHAT WORKS
Two things that we are fairly certain reduce the urge to swarm are adding space (supers) at the top of the hive and any of a variety of disturbances of the brood nest. Adding supers to provide space is beneficial if accomplished early enough and does not impede the normal build-up of bee population.

Brood nest disturbances help discourage swarming by reducing the number of bees. They are lumped together here since the basic difference is degree. All have the basic effect of reducing total brood cell volume or arresting the normal expansion of that volume. They range in degree from Mr. Sechrist’s “clear brood nest” through hive body reversal, splitting the colony, to the more severe Demaree approach. The “clear brood nest” name implies that the queen has more room to lay, but in actual implementation the technique could be more aptly named “reduced volume brood nest.” At the other end of the scale the Demaree scheme has the queen isolated where the bees have to start over making a brood nest.

All of these techniques reduce congestion. Bees make more honey when they are crowded and more bees make more honey. So it would seem that brood nest disturbance is counterproductive by any name. It may be worse in this area than more northerly locations where the nectar flow is later in the season. The bees would have more recovery time as we go north.

As an example, splits do not do well here. If they are strong enough to split in early April, they do not have time to reorganize the brood nest and get up and running for the peak flow in May. They will normally store enough to get them through the summer doldrums, but that is not much help in the honey house that year.

Brood nest disturbances may have more impact on honey production than is obvious just from the number of bees. What if the brood cycle you knocked out would have been the nectar handling house bees during the peak flow? The impact on production would not be readily discernible. We assume that the normal buildup produces bees of the right age to perform the tasks required.

THE TRIGGER
The trigger or element that actually turns on commit to swarm has eluded beekeepers forever. Suspecting that swarm commit preceded swarm cells by a longer lead time than anybody knew, we took an active interest in brood cycles. When plotted against the calendar, we were amazed at how effective the buildup really is, and how few cycles are involved.

We had observed that there were extended periods when all brood was capped and the queen was inactive. We wondered if perhaps the queen, like the workers, was happiest when she was busy. Maybe she gave off some bad vibes when she was disgruntled during the all capped period of the brood cycle. For the sake of discussion, let’s just hypothesize that she is satisfied as long as the brood nest is expanding. She gets to lay a few eggs in stores cells as they become available. The burgeoning bee count is eating more each day. And then a real nectar flow starts. Suddenly the brood nest is getting smaller.

It really doesn’t matter whether the queen triggers “swarm commit” with some signal or if the incoming surge of nectar causes the colony to feel secure that the parent colony has what it takes to survive. Incoming nectar is surely mandatory for the swarm in a new location to become established. If congestion prevails (excess bees), swarm commit is endorsed.

This writer believes that we have been working the wrong problem. We want more bees (congestion), but we need to find a technique that allows the absorption of the first influx of nectar without infringing on brood nest volume. We should focus our efforts on the band of open-cell feed honey above the brood nest. More specifically, we should solve the problem of the capped honey just above the feed honey. Ideally, we should provide empty storage cells at the top fringe of the feed honey. A sudden influx of nectar might then be stored above the feed cell band rather than the top edge of the brood nest. Under some conditions of brood nest expansion, hive body reversal achieves the desired configuration.

In our area redbud blooms in the second half of March. Redbud is a generous nectar source and is plentiful. There is no doubt in our minds what the swarm commit trigger is here. Funny thing about coincidences: they happen together.

Fig. 1 is a seat-of-the-pants visual representation of swarm factors plotted against the spring calendar. No actual data was used in chart preparation, and the chart is added for reference only. The total number of bees continues to increase after late March when redbud blooms, but the rate of increase slows with brood nest encroachment. Had this colony swarmed, the total number of bees would have plunged during the swarming season in April.

This year we will try a three-pronged approach to swarm prevention:

A. Two supers will be in place by mid March. This puts us in a strain to get medication on and off in time to support the schedule.

B. Checkerboarding is what we call removing frames 3, 5 and 7 of honey in the top hive body and feed box and substituting empty brood comb. The intent is to provide continuous storage cells to the super above; a perforation of their honey dome. The bees should not have much trouble maintaining their band of feed honey in the empty comb because honey is available in adjacent combs.

C. If checkerboarding their winter stores is not enough to get them working upstairs during the redbud flow, we may be checkerboarding the top of the broodnest; penetrating the feed band from the top with empty comb protruding into the brood nest and raising alternate frames into the next higher super. This would be brood nest disturbance where it should do the least harm, and expanding the brood cell volume.

If you believe the listed observations, or think the concept might have some merit, I would welcome any help I can get in pursuit of a dependable technique.

I have one other suggestion to offer someone experimenting with this concept: If you want to thrust the brood nest up into the first honey super, give them drone brood comb in the center frame of the honey dome. This might be all that is required. Those frames could be removed when capped, taking with them the multiplying varroa mite population and the nonproducing drones. Replacement drone comb, unlike worker comb, is not prepared for eggs by the bees hatching from that comb. If we had suitable drone comb on hand, we would have used it for frame 5 of the B checkerboarding discussed above.

Other Considerations: An expanded version of the following one-liners appeared in Part 1. They are provided here for ready reference:

1. A vigorous queen can lay enough eggs to cycle brood in 2-1/2 hive bodies.

2. The bees resist storing nectar above the capped honey of their honey dome.

3. When a serious nectar flow starts, the nectar is stored at the bottom of their feed cell honey, encroaching on brood nest volume.

4. A frame of brood comb or foundation substituted for brood reduces total brood cell volume.

5. The primary focus of build-up is on the band of feed cells above the brood nest.

6. Loafing bees enjoy the heat rising off the brood nest, causing congestion at the top of the hive.

7. The bees will find and use drone brood cells even outside the cold night cluster.

8. The bees prefer to expand their brood nest laterally into adjacent comb rather than upward into honey stores.

9. Working in the supers seems to take the edge off the urge to swarm.

Walt Wright
Box 10
Elkton, Tn. 38455
615-468-2059

by WALT WRIGHT
Elkton, Tennessee

This was not the year to experiment with swarm control techniques that you intended to apply to most years. Late winter and early spring were most irregular as far as the weather was concerned. We set records on both ends of the scale - both high and low temperatures. Mother Nature wasn’t just fickle, she was vindictive. A warm spell would encourage buds to develop, and an extended freeze would turn them into brown frazzles. For the first time ever, we saw inactive brood area in February, where the bees needed pollen to feed young and brood production was on hold. We understand that this is fairly normal further north. And this occurred during the same period that ABJ was publishing my articles saying it didn’t happen here!

Some colonies moved up into stores, leaving an empty hive body on the bottom (Yes, we said that didn’t happen here) and some didn’t. Intermediate variations included a few frames of brood in the bottom hive body and most in the second level, generating odd-shaped clusters.

All hives were running behind schedule on build-up except two, which were approaching two hive bodies of brood when Apistan strips were removed on March 14. Those two received their scheduled two supers of drawn combs on the same day. The rest received some supering within the next few days. Most did not need supers at that time, but I was on schedule for supering in mid March to accommodate the normal season third brood cycle emergence.

The evidence suggests that supering in Mid-March was not soon enough. Hold that though. We’ll get back to it.

Those of you who saw the April ABJ may remember that the second part of my swarm prevention program was checkerboarding empty frames in the overhead honey stores. This was done going into winter so that it was in place for the spring build-up.

I should say that I did not do what I would have rather done. What I would have liked to do was verify two plugged hive bodies. Then, take the honey in the second hive body and checkerboard brood comb into a third hive body such that one box of honey was evenly distributed through two boxes. Then, winter in the plugged lower hive body and two checkerboard hive bodies above.

Other obligations kept me 800 miles from home for most of the 1995 bee season. About half my hives were weakened by Varroa in mid summer before it came to our attention on a short trip home. Emergency treatment salvaged all but one, but those hit hardest were not strong enough in the fall to store enough honey for winter. I took three deep and three shallow frames of honey from those that had enough and distributed those frames among the needy. The bottom line of this sad tale is that for purposes of the April issue, I reported actual statues as opposed to a recommended checkerboarding approach.

The weak link in our whole approach to the “Different Twist” for swarm prevention was whether or not the bees would store nectar above their open cell feed honey if empty cells were available. You may remember that I referred to the checkerboarded empty frames as a perforation of their honey dome with the objective of encouraging them to store nectar above their feed cell band. If they would do that, they would not be encroaching on the brood nest volume with excess nectar.

I am pleased to report that I am over the first hurdle in the concept. On March 14, when removing Apistan strips pursuant to adding supers, some hives had filled their three empty combs in the feed box with nectar. Adjacent capped honey had not been opened. The top of the brood nest was below the top bars of the second hive body. I wish I had the presence of mind at the time to see how far down in the second hive body the band of feed cell honey actually was. Since the feed-cell band is a rounded dome and not flat, it is probably safe to guess that some excess nectar was stored in the empty cells of the checkerboarded second hive body.

One could deduce from this much data that at least three shallow frames of brood had not been crowded out by nectar. The question remaining is how much brood volume would have been saved by additional empty cells upstairs? No supers had been added up to this point. Would a super have saved more brood space? I told you I would get back to it. Since the bees crossed the inter-bar space between the hive body and the feed box to store nectar, it seems reasonable to assume they would have used a super, if available.

Prior to March 14, there had been four flying days, warming successively to about 70 degrees. But on the l1th I had noted that pollen was scarce from a previous freeze. How much more nectar could have displaced brood volume in a “normal” season? For the answer to that one, I’ll have to see what happens in a normal season.

I write the interim report as of the 27th of March. I wanted to jot down a few thoughts before it got stale.

In advance of knowing for sure that they could be encouraged to store above their feed cells by providing empty cells, I outlined a back-up technique in the plan for checkerboarding the upper edge of the brood nest for the same purposes. As of this date, it seems that item 3 of the April issue will not be required. This leaves me free to apply my energies to other aspects of brood production in the build-up phase.

You northern beekeepers are interested in holding off brood development until the time is right. We need to get all the brood raised we can to take advantage of April sources. There are other reasons that brood is limited during our build-up that could stand some objective scrutiny and experimentation. Too much pollen stored is one that comes to mind first. But I am not going out on the same limb of proposing solutions without prior demonstration of results. I would not have done it on checkerboarding, but for a physical problem that had the potential for taking me out without getting the concept before the beekeeping community.

Preliminary Conclusions

If backfilling brood cells with nectar (we called it encroachment) is an important element of the commitment to swarm, checkerboarding will help stall off that commitment. Additionally, it will help in the transition from the buildup-to-swarm mode to the storing mode. Stretching the overhead stores vertically automatically provides room for the increasing numbers of bees. And the foragers are familiar with the storage space because they spend most of their time there waiting for flying conditions.

I am confident that when the techniques are refined to a dependable system, production will be improved by additional foragers and less energy will be expended on swarm control.

Walt Wright
Box 10
Elkton, Tn. 38455
615-468-2059

by WALT WRIGHT
Elkton, Tennessee

For those of you who came in late, checkerboarding (CB) is what we called breaking up the overhead honey for wintering bees. This is accomplished by substituting empty brood comb on an alternate frame basis in the overhead honey above the cluster. The intent of checkerboarding was to provide nectar storage space continuously from the band of open feed cells at the top of the brood nest to the overhead supers.

If they would store nectar above the brood nest, it would take storage space pressure off the brood nest (ABJ June 96). In early May we reported that build-up swarms were replaced by queen supersedure (ABJ July 96). The following is the final chapter in this experimental concept, and is written after the July harvest.

No Swarms

The primary objective of the checkerboarding test was to discourage the swarm “impulse”. As best as we could discern, we had zero swarms in 1996. The reason we have to hedge on a positive statement is that we quit looking for swarm cells when it became apparent that the strongest colonies were superseding, and we were damaging supersedure cells by separating brood chambers. We can say positively that we saw no sudden population decreases as would be the case subsequent to a colony having swarmed. An indication of population history for each colony was recorded by the date noted on supers as they were added. When you open a hive, even without that history, it’s normally fairly obvious when a colony has swarmed. Your first reaction is “what happened to the bees?” But you know, without getting an answer to the question.

Locally, it was a “swarmy” season. The bees were slow building population because of severe March freezes and the resultant shortage of early season forage. Then in late April/early May, it all came in at once and didn’t last long. The late surge of nectar availability pushed many colonies into swarm commit a month late. The late “swarmy” season makes the effectiveness of checkerboarding even more convincing as a deterrent to swarming.

We are pleased that the results of the checkerboarding test indicate that as a management technique, it has the potential for virtually eliminating build-up swarms. But we are really excited about the fringe benefits. Some we might mention before we turn our attention to honey production follow:

1. The acceleration of build-up fostered by unrestricted brood nest expansion might be used to good advantage by the package bee sellers. They have had trouble keeping up with demand lately.
2. Those commercial beekeepers who systematically requeen in the spring can save the operational expense of that management activity. If supersedure is automatic, the colony gets the best queen available with minimum colony impact on build-up.
3. The early population increase might make colony division more practical in our area.

Honey Production Was Both Disappointing and Encouraging

In years past, one or two of 130 colonies would be outstanding producers in any given year. They would fill two or three supers of drawn comb in April when other colonies were still operating below their capped overhead honey. Surplus bees early in the season would alert us to the need for more space above. When supers were added, they promptly started storing nectar there. We called these random producers of twice the normal honey for the area the five-super phenomenon. With the same maintenance, they would not repeat the performance in the following or subsequent seasons.

The indications of the five-super phenomenon are the same as the effects of checkerboarded overhead honey. That makes us think we now know what induces the phenomenon. Either there was storage space in the overhead honey, or the phenomenon hive superseded early, or both.

This year was an extremely short season. We shouldn’t have to make excuses for harvesting a lower average than a normal year, but the potential for much higher yields is so great that we feel obligated to wade through it.

Transition to Expansion Mode

The literature does not identify the differences in honey bee seasonal modes of operations. There are distinct activities which are only accomplished in one or more operational modes. The most notable evidence of operation in what we call the expansion mode is fabrication of new comb. During the build-up mode no new wax is generated, and during the expansion mode they can draw enough wax (new comb) to store all available incoming nectar not used for backfilling the upper reaches of the brood nest.

Between these two modes of operation, there is a transition period when there is little storage of surplus nectar. Some of the reasons for the storage slowdown are: Peak consumption by drones, loss of graduating nurse bees to house bee duties, ingestion of nectar by the wax makers, and recycling old capped honey. The transition period is about a full brood cycle and during this time some colonies gain, some lose, and some stay roughly the same. When house bees start graduating to forager duties in large numbers, the transition is complete and the colony moves into the expansion mode.

In this short season, the peak nectar availability caught the bees in the transition mode of operation. The last week of April and the first two weeks of May there was an abundance of sources. Every outyard had several of their favorite sources close at hand. Very little of this largess found its way into the supers. The folks who use hive scales to determine nectar availability would have recorded some grossly erroneous data during this season locally.

When the bees had transitioned to the expansion mode in mid-May, it was over. By the third week of May there was virtually no forager traffic to and from the hives. A later flow in June from white clover for a couple of weeks kept the season from being a disaster.

Beekeeping Errors

Peak nectar availability during the transition notwithstanding, the season production shortfall can be directly attributed to bungling by the beekeeper. In the strongest out yard, we had fractured supersedure queen cells on five of twelve hives. Three of those had to raise emergency queens, and as a result, missed rearing brood for a full brood cycle. Those three put up no surplus honey. Two others in that yard came out weak in late winter, one with worm-damaged comb in the cluster area and the other with a drone-laying queen. Both could have easily been salvaged by adding brood from stronger colonies. I was determined not to compromise the checkerboarding tests by taking brood from the strongest hives. The worm-damaged unit crashed and the drone layer was successfully superseded, but it was too slow building strength to contribute much (less than 1/2 super). Averaging five zeros into the output of twelve hives wrecked the average value.

The strong yard produced 31 supers of honey divided by 12 hives for an average yield of almost 2.6 supers per hive. This average is very close to the normal seasonal average using standard management techniques in this area. But all the honey was produced by seven hives. If we remove the outright bungling and failure to take corrective action by the beekeeper, the average looks much better. Thirty-one supers from seven hives is slightly more than 4.4 supers per hive in a short season. This might equate favorably with a normal season five-super phenomenon, or it might be better. The average production of honey in this area with prevailing management techniques is about 2 1/2 supers. These 2 1/2 supers are stored after the transition to the expansion mode. With checkerboarding they store two or three supers while still in the build-up mode. This has the effect of roughly doubling production in this area for a normal season.

We need to balance this talk of increased production with the reality of why we failed to achieve our normal seasonal average. To this point in the discussion of checkerboarding, when have not mentioned the two weak out yards. The bungling beekeeper let two out yards get hit hard by Varroa in 1995. Emergency treatment in late summer salvaged all but one hive, but they were not strong enough in the fall to store winter supplies. They were given checkerboarded honey and a few words of encouragement in the early winter. They made it through the winter, but were slow building in the spring. We surmise that they had not optimized the brood nest in the fall. At one point late in the build-up, the out yard log reports that they were about a month behind the strong yard in development. In mid April there were patches of dried cells in the overhead nectar of 3 to 4 inches, indicating a major push forward in brood nest expansion. In spite of their best efforts and apparent recovery from the Varroa problem, it was too late. The short season restricted their surplus to about one super per colony average.

When the Varroa recovery units were included in the overall average, it fell below the normal-season, standard-management level. That was the disappointing part. The increased average production in the “strong” yard was the encouraging part.

Consumer Bees

A 16 by 20 inch column of wall to wall bees seven feet tall is a thing of beauty to the beekeeper. But when this beautiful thing is present subsequent to nectar availability, it’s cause for panic. Zillions of bees with nothing to gather can consume a sizable chunk of the potential profits. “Consumer” bees had not been a problem in this area in prior years with standard management practices because the bees would normally start to reduce brood rearing during the build-up phase by backfilling the upper part of the brood nest. In fact, with a long season, hives in this area often do not take full advantage of nectar available toward the end of the flow. Storage in the supers stops while nectar is still available.

Faced with the choice of drawing off the extra bees for the fish bait market or moving the bees to a nectar source, the decision was made to move them about 50 miles to the mountains for the sourwood flow. Two weeks went by while we secured mountain locations and rigged trailers for transport. A day or two from being ready to move, white clover granted a reprieve. The bees were working again!

The bees were not moved. To trade one of our better honey sources for unproven locations in the mountains seemed like an unwise choice. By the time white clover trailed off, the bees had limited brood production to a level where it seemed like it was a good time to treat for mites before cotton/soybeans came in. Honey was harvested and Varroa treatment applied.

We would expect the problem of “consumer” bees to resolve itself in a normal build-up season and a more gradual trail off of nectar availability. If this does not turn out to be true, consumer bees may be a side effect of checkerboarding that will need to bee addressed in exchange for increased production. In this area, we have not had a limit brood volume, as is done in other parts of the country, but I’m confident we can learn how and when.

Retrospect

If you concede that nectar encroachment on brood nest volume could be the triggering mechanism to initiate swarm preparations, several things fall into place. The management actions currently recommended for swarm prevention have the effect of providing nectar storage space.

Early supering is highly recommended. If there is not a band of capped honey between the brood nest and the added super, the super of drawn comb provides storage space. Note that the literature states that foundation does not seem to do the job.

Hive body reversal is a standard swarm prevention technique. Several configurations of the brood nest, when reversed, result in overhead nectar storage space if any empty super is provided. The major swarm deterrent provided by reversal is the sandwiching of capped honey in between two areas of brood. This honey must be moved to unite the two brood volumes. They are no longer constrained by overhead capped honey and open cell nectar does not impede brood nest expansion.

Fall Swarms

We have seen the experts grapple with the question about why fall swarms are generated. The answer is quite simple. A strong or long fall flow. The bees want to build population on the upswing of nectar availability to take advantage of that availability. The bees resist storing above the wide band of capped honey overhead that is normally present at that time of year. Incoming nectar is stored in the top edge of the brood nest. Too much incoming nectar puts pressure on the brood volume. When that pressure meets their criteria, swarm preparations are initiated.

Swarmy Years

Some years they all want to swarm and others they appear to be less inclined to swarm. The build up in either case appears to be roughly the same. Then answer again is quite simple. From year to year, there is great variability in nectar sources.

In the last four years, we have had two dark honey, one medium amber and one light honey season. One of the dark honey years was red. Nearly every super in the honey house ranged from pink to dark red. These obviously different honeys are an indication of the variability in nectar sources from year to year. If we conclude that the same variations prevail during the build up, there would be years when all colonies in the area would have excessive nectar. 1996 was such a year in this area. The late surge in nectar availability produced a “swarmy” year. The swarm season was delayed by about a month, but nectar availability did its job when it arrived.

Queen Cup Whitening

My XYZ book says that whitening of queen cups is an indication of congestion. Sorry, XYZ, but it has nothing to do with congestion. It is an indication of surplus nectar availability. In the early build-up the bees generate no new wax. It is just one the house bees’ duties forfeited in favor of field force. They choose not to have inactive bees generating wax and putting a drain on honey stores. When excess nectar is available, they allow themselves the luxury of generating some new wax. They also add new wax to storage cells above the brood nest to increase storage capacity. In a normal season here, whitening occurs with redbud bloom and is an indication of the presence of conditions for swarm preparations excess nectar for the storage space available.

Reversing Versus Checkerboarding (CB)

Reversing hive bodies helps with swarm prevention. The brood nest disturbance has the effect of limiting numbers of foragers during the build-up. A major reorganization of stores is required to get back on track with brood nest expansion. The bees do nothing internal to the hive in hurry. There is great inertia in thousands of participants embarking on a course of action as a unit. Collectively, they know what’s best, but it takes time for the consensus to prevail.

After a major brood nest disturbance such as reversal, there is a confusion period when nothing happens. The bees have to learn how to care for the young with misplaced stores, or make other adjustments, just to reduce their losses. Slowly, the recovery plan emerges, but two weeks have elapsed. During this period, normal brood nest expansion activities have taken a back seat and the net result is fewer bees. Most of the workers above brood tending age are foragers during the build up and limiting the population reduces nectar storage pressure on brood nest volume.

In contrast, checkerboarding encourages brood nest expansion and bee population, while offsetting the inclination to swarm. It is a poor contest when choosing between the two options.

If you feel you must reverse, minimize the impact on the bees by assuring empty cells above the upper box with solid brood, flat to what was the separation plane. This will permit them to re-establish their open cell feed band on incoming nectar without waiting for capped brood to emerge. The feed band will be in place for the next larvae cycle, and the top edge of cells will be used to recycle brood instead of building a new feed band.

Conclusions

If there is any aspect of beekeeping on which there is general agreement, it is that congestion is a primary factor in commitment to swarm. This writer believes that congestion, itself, is incidental. Honey bees like congestion and they are at their best when crowded. Congestion, itself, is merely symptomatic of sufficient foragers to gather enough nectar to put storage space pressure on brood nest volume.

We will end this series on checkerboarding (CB) with what we believe is the reason CB works. In the evolutionary development of the honey bee, the reproduction strategy hinged on the following:

1. Storing of surplus honey over and to the sides of the brood nest.
2. Building downward from the top and maintaining the brood nest below the stored honey.
3. Miserly use of the overhead capped honey, while the spring build up takes advantage of early nectar sources to support brood rearing. The build up rate is scaled to nectar availability.
4. Most workers above brood-tending age are foragers during buildup. This maximizes the potential for incoming nectar exceeding feed requirements.
5. A point in nectar availability is reached where it must be stored in the brood nest. This triggers swarm preparations.

CB distorts this strategy by providing storage space for the surge in nectar by providing openings of storage cells in overhead capped honey. The colony is no longer restricted by the capped honey overhead.

Sign Off

If this series has done nothing else, it has provided the post-graduate students with some project material. Devise valid research tests to confirm or refute the conjectures offered in this series.

Walt Wright
Box 10
Elkton, Tn. 38455
615-468-2059

by WALT WRIGHT
Elkton, Tennessee

Southern row-crop farmers use an expression that has some applicability in beekeeping. When the farmer has done all he can do to assure a crop, and the plants are too large or thick for further cultivation, the field is referred to as “laid-by.” The farmer can make periodic inspections of the field after this, but the success of the crop is pretty much beyond his control.

When you have done all you can do in the Fall to insure successful wintering, the colonies are laid-by. You have to wait out the Winter to determine the degree of success of your Fall management efforts. Unlike the farmer, however, your periodic inspections in late Winter / early Spring can influence the ultimate degree of success, if you are prepared to act on inspection findings.

It is difficult in the Southeast to specify the exact date that specific actions are appropriate. Some years, pollen and nectar is available in late January. Other seasons, it might be February or as late as March. The timing of required actions is more controlled by weather and bee activity than by the calendar.

A TENNESSEE WALK-BY

After mid-January, any time the midday temperature is forecast to break into the 50s, do a walk-by. If the forecast temperature is middle to upper 50s, take time off from work, if necessary, to see what is happening on the landing boards of your hives. This is important for several reasons.

You want to know about a Winter die-out before the cousins find out about it. If neighboring colonies find a dead-out, or a very weak hive, before you do, robbing sets in promptly. Our first introduction to the effects of the tracheal mite came on in January, 1989, when our orchard colonies were alive with robbers. For those of you who have not seen robbers in action, perhaps a brief description is worth your while.

What you want to see on a pre-season walk-by is a few bees milling around on the landing board close to the entrance reducer opening and some bees coming and going that obviously know where the entrance is. Robbers, though, are very cautious or tentative on their approach to the hive. They fly in little sorties from well back away from the colony, expecting to be met by defenders. If they meet no resistance, they get closer and closer until they land. The dead giveaway on robbers is that they appear not to know where the entrance is. They can be seen checking the cracks where supers come together and the edges of the cover. They may be looking for a poorly defended opening or they smell open honey at these cracks. Either way, they are distributed all over the hive. Resident bees are normally entry-oriented and do not land on other areas unless they are disturbed. A cloud of tentative flyers and bees seeking access all around a colony means serious robbing is underway.

Allowing a colony to be robbed out is not in your best interest. The combs of honey and pollen can be used for other purposes if they are protected. Store them safely away from wax moths and you will be surprised how fast you use them up. Even the robbers would do better without the booty of plunder. At this time of year, the spoils must be stored in the brood nest, and anything that reduces brood nest space reduces future brood rearing, not good for early Spring buildup. If possible, shut down active robbing immediately by salvaging the comb.

Other things you can look for on a pre-season walk-by are relative number of bees that are active from colony to colony, and bottomboard debris. Keeping in mind that the activity threshold temperature may vary from colony to colony, note colonies with very little activity. They should all be stirring at 55° outside temperature on a sunny day. Those with little or no activity need to be opened for inspection at the earliest opportunity.

Bottomboard debris can provide clues to the condition of the colony. During periods of confinement in cold weather, the bees do not have an opportunity to clean the bottomboard and some of the debris is tracked outside the entry, Normal debris of some clean cappings removed from reserve honey is what you would like to find, This shows the cluster is in physical contact with reserves, A shrinking cluster often loses contact with surrounding stores, and a sustained cold spell and tight cluster cause them to starve only inches from plenty of food, However, finding no cappings is not necessarily a bad sign. Bees in my area will normally form their Winter cluster over liquid honey in open cells. Miserly use of this underfoot reservoir will often sustain the cluster into early Spring’s second brood cycle. But seeing too many cappings is another story. It may indicate the colony has crashed and has already been robbed out. If you are suspicious of this condition, you can pop the top and confirm capped honey at the top without unduly disturbing the cluster (if there is one).

What you do not want to see on your pre-season walk-by is black or darkened debris on the bottomboard. This almost always is bad news of one type or another. Wax moth larvae droppings are dark-colored, and their damage may be a result of a variety of problems. Wax moth larvae are not normally active at this time of year, but the damage may have occurred in the Fall and is just now coming to your attention. Again, pop the top to see what you find.

I should have identified what is meant by “pre-season.” In late Winter, mild weather encourages some activity in the colony. Some bees come out to bask in the sunshine, and others take the opportunity for a cleansing flight. The cluster remains basically intact for this activity. The bees do not “break cluster,” and it is not advisable to disturb the cluster during these periods.

When mild weather is accompanied by forage availability, the bees go after it on a grand scale. They “break cluster” to the extent that capped brood is sometimes sparsely covered. Comb inspection is not a problem during these periods because the bees are geared to reorganize the cluster as the temperature cools down later. Put the comb back where you found it, and no harm is done.

When pollen is being gathered in the late Winter / early Spring, the season is on. Pre-season is over, and Spring buildup is in progress. It’s time for you to become active, also passive observation from the outside is overt.

Don’t waste an inspection of brood chambers by not being prepared to do all you can do on one opening of the colony. The primary mission of the first inspection is to determine overwintered condition. Equally important, though, is maintaining good condition for the impending season. That is why a mite treatment is recommended on your first hive opening. The cluster is at the season’s minimum size. Whatever your mite treatment program, it will reach more bees when the cluster size is at its smallest volume of the year.

FIRST LOOK INSIDE

Early season flying weather normally occurs only for a short time each day. The bees may only work a few hours in midday. Do your in-hive work early in this period (like noon to 1:00 p.m.) so as not to interfere with the re-clustering toward the end of the period. If the temperature is cooling down toward 50°, quit for the day. Have a good thermometer in your bee truck.

Because of the limited time of access, the first inspection should be only a general observation of condition. You can tell at a glance the relative size of the cluster. Verify that small clusters have a laying queen by lifting one frame in the cluster an inch or two to see brood. If you find brood, apply your mite treatment and close up promptly. If you do not find brood on that frame or any other, make a note to check again in a week. Good records are mandatory!

This cursory inspection should include being alert for evidence of dysentery or nosema disease. If you see dark discoloration on the top bars in the cluster area, you might want to feed some Fumidil-B to that colony. It may clear up naturally with incoming forage, or it may not. Nosema is not dysentery, and it is debilitating.

I discontinued preventive application of medication for nosema when I concluded that Spring “stimulative feeding” is a myth. Pollen availability is all the stimulation needed, and any feed provided must be temporarily stored, which takes brood cells out of production. We have seen some rare spotting of top bars since we discontinued Fumidil-B application, but the problem cleared up without corrective action. However, we would probably take action on a severe case or widespread outbreak of symptoms. You make the call. And, our area may be different than places farther north, or south.

Note the smallest and largest clusters. Sometime downstream we may want to add bees to the weakest colony, and those supplemental bees should come from the strongest. If a cluster is smaller than a volleyball the bees are in danger of freeze-out in subsequent cold snaps. A cluster this small may be in decline from mite infestation. If you find empty cells to the side of the cluster, either outside of the cluster on a frame, or on adjacent frames, you can be sure the cluster is diminishing in size. Add healthy bees at the earliest opportunity.

It’s best to add bees from a distant location so that they do not “go home” the next time they fly. If your only source of bees is at the same location, add a visual change in front of the exit. Lean a board or box against the hive to encourage departing bees to reorient to their new home. A whole book could be written about techniques for moving a hat full of bees from one hive to another, but limited space keeps me from going into detail here. One technique that is fairly reliable is to add a super of wet comb or drawn comb sprayed with honey/sugar water to the top of a strong colony. When a sufficient number of bees have come up into the super to take advantage of your charity, quickly sandwich the super between two covers, and transport to the needy hive. It is best to have an inner cover already inside the bottom cover to provide bee space below the super bottom bars. At the speed of light, or thereabouts, lift the super of captive bees, with the top transport cover still on, and place it on the open, needy colony. Do this as the temperature is falling toward the clustering range on the day the next cold front is pushing toward you. If necessary, do it again the next warm spell to stabilize a declining cluster. It is too early in the season to add brood. They are raising all the brood they can keep warm. If you can stabilize the decline, you can add brood as the weather moderates.

Before we leave tracheal mite effects behind, let me throw out an item for your consideration. We read (past tense) a report that tracheal mite infestation did not affect the nectar load of foraging bees - infested bees brought back as much nectar per trip as uninfested bees. We think we have observed that the same thing is not true of pollen loads. When most of the bees are coming in with their socks full, the colony is healthy. When a large percentage of bees are coming in with partial loads, beware of tracheal mites. Keep in mind that early-season foraging is primarily for pollen. They must have pollen for brood rearing, and they do not have storage space for nectar. Some bees will split loads of both pollen and nectar, of course, which accounts for a low percentage of apparent light pollen loads.

MITE TREATMENT

If you have not yet invested in tracheal-mite-resistant bees, you will have to treat for both mites this season. If you consider that “resistant” is not the same as immune, and that some low level of infestation persists, you might find treatment of resistant bees would be cost effective. I treated my Yugos like my bees of unknown ancestry (mostly locally generated swarms), and the Yugos out-performed my feral bee stock by nearly two to one. Whether any part of that can be attributed to mite treatment is unknown.

Early in the season is the best time to treat for both mites. Treatment is less expensive and most effective when the cluster is small and the active ingredient has to be dispersed over fewer bees. Whatever your preference for method of treatment, do it as soon in the late Winter/early Spring as you can gain access to the brood area.

We tried to treat the bees with menthol one Fall, but when we saw what it was doing to brood volume, we couldn’t get it out of the hives fast enough. The bees can’t stand the stuff. They survived the Winter with smaller clusters, but the first brood volume in Winter is important. So we use vegetable oil exclusively for tracheal mite control, but we don’t use patties. We put a couple of ice-cream scoops of grease mix on the top bars in the cluster area, breaking up and spreading the clumps with the back of the scoop. This gets more bees in contact with the mix. The mix that falls between the frames is not wasted. A layer of mix is left on the bottomboard for them to walk through. Even the small amount of particles that they are able to roll through the entry and throw overboard serves a purpose. A grease film is generated at the entry for distribution.

The following grease mix formula has resulted in less than six percent winter die-out over a five-year period: Layer 10 pounds of granulated table sugar with a three pound can of vegetable shortening in a five-gallon bucket. If preventive treatment for foulbrood is desired, include a seven-ounce packet of TM-25 (we do) in the grease/ sugar layers. Tilt the bucket and rotate while smearing the ingredients together with the flat of the hand. Clean up with dish detergent.

For Varoa control, one or two strips of Apistan (depending on population) during the first or second brood cycle work wonders. We had trouble finding even one mite in mid-Summer when we put in strips in January / February ‘96. It is very easy to underestimate the cluster size this early. When you open the hive and the bees are foraging, the odds are good that more than half of them are in the field, since almost all the adult bees above brood tending age are foragers during the early season.

At the end of the exposure period for mite treatment, the hive will need to be reopened for removal of any medication applied. But we’ve already run on and on, so we’ll treat swarm prevention and other buildup considerations later.

Walt Wright
Box 10
Elkton, Tn. 38455
615-468-2059

by WALT WRIGHT
Elkton, Tennessee

“Honey bees seem to have a plan when it comes to swarming. Here’s what I see, in Tennessee.”

In the evolution of the species, honey bees have become masters of hedging their bets, or betting on both sides to minimize their losses. In this article I’d like to explore some generalities and provide some insight on the specifics in the reproductive process or the swarm impulse, where they hedge their bets.

One of the bee’s most constant and formidable adversaries is the weather. They have devised means to survive harsh winters and hot summers in close quarters and much has been written about Winter clustering and hive cooling. But have you observed how they hedge their bets on “iffy” conditions? They are constantly aware of weather conditions. It doesn’t matter whether it’s flight temperature or the possibility of rain, when conditions are marginal, they only commit a small portion of the work force to foraging. If conditions change suddenly for the worse, they can sustain the loss. If no foragers went to the field in marginal conditions, there would be no gain for that period, so they hedge their bet.

When the weather improves they send more foragers to the field and when conditions reach a suitable stage for foragers brood is sometimes just barely covered.

But if conditions worsen again the number of foragers in the field is reversed to maintain the low risk. Fewer foragers return to the field for another trip.

Reproduction of any species is one of the primary urges. But, unlike mammal species that mate and nurture young under what may be difficult conditions, honey bee colonies generally do not jeopardize the parent to produce an offspring (swarm). The parent colony has no child-bearing age restrictions and the drive to reproduce is not all-consuming. There is always next year. Survival of the parent colony has priority over generating a swarm. That doesn’t mean that they are complacent about swarming, and have developed a behavior specifically designed for producing a swarm at the optimum time of the year.

The “experts” who look for a stimulus for swarm preparations have offered some real gems. Distribution of queen pheromone(s) and day length are two that come to mind. But I think experts are overlooking the obvious. The bees don’t need a reason to start building swarm cells. The whole objective of the build-to-swarm mode is to generate that swarm.

Queen pheromone dilution lacks credibility in my opinion. In a double hive body brood configuration, swarm cells are almost always constructed in a plane at the bottom of frames of the top hive body. The queen passes through that plane regularly. Cells are opening up for egg laying in both hive bodies because of brood nest expansion during buildup.

With respect to the influence of day length, I would point out that, very likely, the sun did not change position in the Spring of ‘96, but swarming was a month later then than in years past. There must have been some other reason for the swarming season being a month late.

But if these aren’t the reasons for swarm preparation, what are? We must offer something more rational. To this end we ask the question: In view of the requirements for swarm establishment in a new location, what would be a better cue than increasing nectar availability? All they need are sufficient bees and evidence of suitable conditions to let them have a go at it, right?

There are two basic requirements for generating a swarm and assuring perpetuity of the parent colony. They must produce enough bees to populate two viable colonies, and there must be sufficient reserves to sustain the parent colony under adverse conditions. The swarm is on its own after it leaves, but the parent colony survival must be protected.

These requirements are accomplished in two phases. The first is all out brood rearing, which I’ll call the pollen phase, and the second is the replenishment of stores, which I’ll call the nectar phase.

The most important feature of the build-to-swarm mode (spring build-up) is their emphasis on forager force. House bee duties are reduced by graduating nurse bees during this build-up period and they become foragers sooner than usual. During the pollen phase of late winter / early Spring, foraging opportunities are limited by weather. They must have pollen for brood rearing, but nectar is not essential, because stored capped honey is (should be) sufficient. Not only is it sufficient to feed the small brood volume, but some of it must be consumed to make room for the expansion of brood nest.

The emergence of the second brood cycle means the population is increasing, at least here in Tennessee, and Winter losses have been canceled out and the build-up is on. Each emerging brood cycle fills their vacated cells plus stores depletion cells with capped brood, then graduates to the foraging team. Ever-increasing brood volume generates the need for increasing amounts of pollen.

The bees seem to have a good “feel” for the overall volume of the cavity in which they operate, and this “feel” for overall volume, and the amount of remaining capped honey, plays a role in determining the limits of brood expansion. Generally, the smaller the cavity size, the sooner the limit is reached. If they expanded the brood nest to the point their stores became depleted, and nectar failed the parent colony could fail. They have some “formula” that dictates when enough brood nest expansion is enough. The brood volume does not increase much when housed in a small cavity, but the rate increases as the season progresses. The bees maintain their youthful vigor much longer in the Spring because of the limited flight in the early season. It would not surprise me to learn that bees that emerged on February first were leading the swarm on April 10.

If the bee population is sufficient to staff two viable colonies, all that remains undone is the insurance of survival of the parent colony. When nectar is available in sufficient quantity, brood nest expansion is reversed, and nectar is stored in the upper part of the brood nest. The swarm will leave with roughly half the work force. Some insurance nectar storage, to replace stores used for generation of the two colonies worth of bees seems appropriate. But what is important is that from the bees’ perspective, the backfilling of the upper part of the brood nest is mandatory for “swarm commit.” When the nectar encroachment on brood nest volume meets their requirements for survival of the parent colony, they start building swarm cells. Whether that is the reason is irrelevant. Here, they go together. Additional nectar is between swarm commit and swarm exodus, because the departing bees take their fair share with them.

Conversely, if all these things do not fall into place, they can abort the swarm process. A number of things can cause them to fail to generate a swarm in any given year. Failure to optimize the brood nest in the Fall is probably the leading cause. Other reasons are early queen failure requiring supercedure or any problem resulting in general colony weakness. If the bees do not reach swarm-commit early in nectar availability, generally they don’t swarm.

To wrap this up, the pollen phase builds a colony to populate a swarm. and the nectar phase replaces some of the stores used to build that population. The replacement of nectar, plus the capped reserve of honey gives the decision makers of the colony confidence in parent colony survival with half the current work force, (playing it safe).

I considered submitting this article without any reference to my checkerboarding program. I intended that the earlier article (Dec. 1996) be the “what” and this to be the “why”, but I concede that the distinction is obscure. So l’l1 add a postscript.

Checkerboarding is where some of the overhead honey is removed and replaced with empty comb. This takes advantage of one of the honey bees’ weaknesses to prevent swarming. They want to store incoming nectar above and to the sides of the brood nest, and they will in the empty comb provided, readily, as long as there is continuous storage space available. If solid capped honey is overhead, they resist storing above that barrier, even when empty supers are provided above the solid honey (at least here in Tennessee). Storing nectar that exceeds feed requirements above the brood nest prevents them from backfilling the upper part of the brood nest. Failing to achieve the necessary brood nest backfilling with incoming nectar, the brood nest volume continues to increase to the level the existing queen can produce eggs. I suspect that storing nectar overhead continually adjusts their perspective (”feel”) for how much brood nest expansion can be safely accomplished. Brood volume usually is limited to about 2-1 /2 stories in my nine-frame system.

Next time, I’ll look at supering, considering all of the above, and the fact that by March, you should be prepared to do exactly that.

Walt Wright
Box 10
Elkton, Tn. 38455
615-468-2059

by WALT WRIGHT
Elkton, Tennessee

“Checkerboarding” is a completely natural way to control swarming. Population growth and honey production are both encouraged.

This technique has the potential for eliminating brood nest operations because swarm prevention occurs in the top of the hive during the swarm season.

Swarm prevention by what I call “checkerboarding” (CB) has only one basic requirement: Provide nectar storage space immediately above the open-cell nectar/honey feed band at the top of the brood nest.

Taking honey from the brood nest has been taboo down through the ages because we thought the bees needed that honey to build up to strength in the Spring. It turns out that they needed some of the solid overhead honey to insure the reproductive process of swarming. That solid overhead honey ring, however, forces new nectar to be stored in the top of the brood nest area, triggering swarm preparations, so we take honey out of the upper part of the brood nest.

Checkerboarding takes some getting used to. It is fairly radical when compared to normal Spring management. The objective is two and a half stories of brood prior to redbud bloom here in Tennessee. It may be some other nectar source where you live that triggers swarm cell building, but you should know what it is, and when it occurs. Redbud blooms locally the second half of March and overlaps the beginning of dogwood.

We need to anticipate the swarm trigger by at least a couple of weeks to add space in time. The bees need that time to adjust their “space available perception.” They do not immediately start storing nectar in a super when it is added. They have to look around in it for a while. Therefore we need supers in place in early March.

The configuration of the brood nest might need some adjustments before you start. First bottom the brood. If an empty hive body is on the bottom, you can use it for deep brood comb, or you can reverse hive bodies. If you need deep brood comb for use on other hives, stand it on end in front of the hive for the bees to evacuate. In my area of Tennessee the bees will sometimes not move down into the bottom hive body in the Fall. They may store substantial pollen in it but not occupy the space for lack of backfilling nectar or the foragers to collect it. Frames not fully plugged with pollen can be used in checkerboarding upper levels.

Occasionally you will find a cluster that is two or three frames wide and two stories high. Put all frames of brood in the bottom box. Maintain their pollen frames adjacent to, and facing the frames of brood.

If you Wintered in two stories, and the lower is now empty, you can reverse the two. In which case you probably still have the solid band of capped honey above the brood nest. The intent of checkerboarding is to perforate that capped honey band. Consider placing a couple frames of brood with the most honey at the top of the frame up into the now empty super you just placed above. Close-in the lower brood nest by moving all brood frames together. Add empty frames from the top to the outside of the lower box. This does not appreciably increase cluster volume requirements, but does break up the honey barrier. Remember, if you split your brood nest by raising a couple of frames, make sure there are enough bees to cover the whole area.

Solid capped honey overhead impedes brood nest expansion up­ward. The open-cell feed band between the capped honey and brood cells is quite thin, leaving very little nectar storage space. When alternate frames are empty overhead, nectar is stored there. We do not fully understand why brood nest expansion should be accelerated with alternate frames of nectar, but this appears to be the case. When all capped honey is consumed and only nectar is over­head, brood expansion is even faster.

If you Winter in one and a half stories (a deep and shallow super), checkerboarding is easy. Alternate the shallow capped honey into a second shallow of brood comb such that each shallow has alternate frames of honey and empty comb. Add an empty of brood comb on top to make a two and one-half story brood volume. Monitor nectar storage in the empty comb frames. As it approaches the top of the brood volume of two and a half stories, add honey supers of drawn comb. That’s assuming, of course, that you have removed your mite control medication. Honey supers can be added earlier with no ill effects, but they should definitely be in place before your local swarm trigger (here it is redbud) blooms.

If you Winter in double hive bodies, there is more involved. When there is solid honey in the top hive body, several options are available:

a. Extract three or four alternate frames, being careful to protect cell depth. Put them (or other empty frames) back in and add a super of brood comb on top.

b. If you have extra frames of brood comb from Winter losses or queenless combines, they can be used as described above in the story and a half - extracted, of course. The extra hive body can be harvested after the brood nest recedes to a lower level.

c. You can wait until brood expands into the second hive body. A one-time hive body reversal and addition of a super of brood comb provides the two and one-half stories of brood nest with continuous overhead storage space. However, early brood nest expansion has been retarded by this method.

In all of this shuffling of combs of honey, we make a concerted effort to keep honey acquired during mite treatment periods out of the marketable honey. Combs raised into supers from the brood nest are marked with an “X” with a felt permanent marker. These are set aside during extraction to be extracted later for bee feed only. It’s handy to have a few jugs of real honey to feed the bees when needed.

When you have configured your two and a half stories of brood volume with continuous storage space for nectar, stay out of the brood boxes. You will find it difficult to believe that this many bees are not thinking swarm! If you absolutely must prove it to yourself, check for swarm cells on a weekly basis on a few colonies.

One other item we might mention that is not specifically part of checkerboarding management is the building up of slower developing colonies. We wait until most colonies have a double hive body of brood. A slow starter that still has not expanded into the second hive body needs a boost. We give them a quantum leap forward by doubling their brood volume. If you do not have brood comb to substitute for brood taken from the strongest, do not use foundation. It won’t be used until they transition to the expansion mode, and that may be two months away. That makes a dead space in the interior of the brood volume. If you don’t have empty comb on hand, take five frames from the slow starter. Shake the bees off and leave the slots open until you return with five frames of brood. Use those frames to substitute for brood taken from the strong colonies. Take one or two frames from the second hive body of the strongest. Frames in the second hive body were originally filled with brood incrementally with brood nest expansion. If you take all capped brood, some should be emerging soon.

To improve survivability, take some bees from each colony by shaking a couple super frames over the box. We find looking for emerging brood to be unrewarding early in the buildup. Be careful not to abduct their queen along with the adhering bees on the brood frames.

A few tips are offered for transporting loose frames of bees between locations:

• Collect the brood on the first day of a warming trend when warmer weather is expected for 3 or 4 days.
• If travel time is more than a few minutes, soak a few bricks in hot tap water and place in the bottom of the carrier for heat and humidity.
• Use a frame spacer in the carrier to maintain separation and do not load the outside slots. Heavy frames can slap the outside walls during transport.
• Load them on the truck crosswise. You will seldom start and stop fast enough to slap frames, but rough terrain can cause abrupt side-to-side motion.

Walt Wright
Box 10
Elkton, Tn. 38455
615-468-2059

by Walt Wright

Stop Swarms - Make money

If there is anything on which most beekeepers agree, it is that stronger colonies produce more honey. If honey production is your goal, your management system should be directed at generating the maximum strength possible.

Dr. C.R. Farrar demonstrated, some 50 years ago, techniques for building colony population to what he called production strength. His objective was about three deep brood chambers of brood. He accomplished this level of colony strength by shuffling brood chambers on a regular basis. He also noted that his approach reduced the incidence of swarming.

Unfortunately, the theory that congestion causes swarming has induced a beekeeper reservation about early colony strength. We have been led to believe that too strong, too early leads to swarming. And we know that the swarmed parent colony produces little, if any, surplus honey. Most swarm prevention techniques take away potential strength or weaken the colony. Simply, potential population is reduced by removal of brood or disruption of colony development, honey production potential is adversely affected.

My dictionary defines congestion in two ways. Overcrowding is one sense of the word as in the down­town traffic jam. A second meaning is when normal operation is impaired as in nasal congestion. The beehive has both types of congestion associated with the swarming season. The crowding of adult bees is required to staff two viable colonies. The impairing of normal operation is the appearance of nectar accumulation in brood rearing comb. The literature is somewhat obscure on nectar congestion of the brood nest, but we believe it is a necessary element of the colony swarm preparation process. Before generating swarm cells, the colony reduces the size of the brood nest by storing nectar at the top as brood emerges. There are several advantages for both the parent colony and impending swarm to generate a reservoir of open-cell feed prior to committing to swarm.

The intent of swarm prevention by nectar management is to prevent nectar clogging of the brood nest. We won’t bore you with the details of why we believe that nectar congestion is a preliminary requirement for swarming. But preventing its starting is more reliable and less labor intensive than periodic reversal to compensate for it. We set out to stop it before it starts. By adding empty cells for nectar storage immediately above the brood nest, nectar congestion is avoided. The colony prefers to store nectar overhead if empty cells are encountered within the cluster prior to full brood nest expansion. The colony that doesn’t reduce the brood nest to a level that can be managed by half the population, (what’s left after swarm departure), does not start swarm cells.

The basic objectives of nectar management are quite simple. They are listed and discussed below:

a. Induce the colony to store nectar overhead very early in the build-up.

b. Maintain empty comb at the top for continued nectar storage throughout the entire build-up.

c. Monitor for continued brood nest expansion into the accumulated overhead nectar up through the swarming season.

The results of meeting these objectives are dramatic. The colony that is expanding the brood nest and storing nectar overhead through the swarming season does not consider swarming. The colony goal for that period is changed from generating a swarm to filling the ever ­increasing empty space. In my part of Tennessee the typical colony arrives at the start of the main flow with the equivalent of three deep brood chambers of brood and two shallow supers of nectar above the brood nest. The huge population is poised to exploit the main flow.

Variations in the overwintered hive configuration, cluster location in the stack, and area seasonal forage availability require some adaptation of these recommendations. The primary tool for inducing over­head nectar storage where solid capped honey exists is the thinning of that honey with empty brood comb. This serves more than one purpose. Not only does it encourage storing nectar above the brood nest, but it also improves the colony awareness of additional empty comb above the solid capped honey. Often the colony will ignore empty comb added above the overhead solid capped honey barrier. They seem to perceive the top of the capped honey as the top of the residence cavity. But if they store nectar through the honey barrier on empty comb inserted between frames of honey, it improves their perception of the available space above. When the colony consensus is aware that empty space is available above, they delay swarm ambition and continue to increase the size of the brood nest. If they are successful in filling the space with nectar, the colony can revert to swarm ambition. The deliberate maintenance of empty comb above the cluster top prevents the colony from filling the upper reaches throughout the swarming season. We recommend maintaining two supers of empty drawn comb of brood-rearing cell depth above the cluster through the entire build up period. Note that in the sketches of the manipulations, at least the equivalent of two empty supers is the starting point. Honey storage supers can be used above the desired brood level, but deeper cells will accumulate more build-up nectar. They will fill empty cells within the cluster boundaries with nectar on a priority basis.

A third advantage of thinning the overhead solid honey is faster growth rate of the brood nest. If the colony is increasing brood nest size into capped honey, they consume that honey as feed and free up cells for additional brood.

When the overwintered colony has a box of empty brood comb in the stack, thinning honey may not be required. In the case of a colony wintered in a double deep, where the cluster is in the top chamber and the lower deep is empty, just reverse and add empty brood comb at the top.

Providing nectar storage space very early in the season is a key ingredient to success of this system. In my part of Tennessee the swarm issue season is early April and the prime swarm preparation period is late March. To precede the bee’s schedule, we often perform the manipulation in late February on stronger colonies. The appearance of new, white wax at the beginning of the main flow is the timing reference for the bees’ schedule at your location. The manipulation should be performed two full months before white wax. Our white wax date is typically May 1.

Some examples of the one-step manipulation are provided in the sketch. All three examples induce early overhead nectar storage. If your overwintered colony differs from the examples provided, you can apply the basic objectives to your specific hive configuration.

To monitor for continued broodnest expansion through the swarming season, the beekeeper only has to penetrate the hive to the top of the brood nest. The colony expands the brood nest in small discrete steps at the top. Lift off accumulated nectar down to the nest expansion dome. If you lift out a frame with the arc of the expansion dome defined, the expansion band is obvious. Capped brood is below the expansion band and full cells of nectar above. The expansion band can range through reduced nectar, dry, eggs laid, or open larval brood, depending on the stage when inspected. At any of the stages of expansion, the band is obvious at a glance. We call this “drying cells for expansion.” The expansion band at the top of the brood nest is evidence that the colony has no intention to swarm. Drying cells above the brood is exactly the opposite of nectar congestion in the top of the brood nest.

Objective: Induce nectar storage above the brood nest. Timing: Prior to the swarm season. Follow-up: Maintain empty brood comb at the top. Do not let colony fill comb to the top.

Dr. Farrar achieved swarm prevention by his labor-intensive quest for greater hive populations. Nectar management achieves greater populations with less effort in the quest for swarm prevention. It would seem that population of the colony and swarm prevention are not necessarily at cross purposes. We’ve had 50 years to unlearn the concept that bee crowding induces swarming. We believe both types of congestion are effects of the colony swarm game plan, and not the “cause.” But most beekeepers persist in weakening the colony in the interest of swarm prevention. You can continue to “shoot yourself in the foot” regarding honey production, or try building greater populations by applying an effective swarm prevention technique.