I had a prime swarm emerge - 2.3kg - Robin has it now - biggest I've had
from my hives. Juli had a 2.6kg one! But for primes, a good fraction of
that weight is honey: they get to fill up both tummies, casts have to make
do with what fuel is left over. And come to think of it, casts are
unplanned, the workers have no warning. By this I mean, a prime swarm is
planned by the workers: they prepare the hive many days in advance,
ensuring there are queen cells for the queen to lay in, slimming her down
and pre-scouting. THEY decide when it is time to swarm. But casts are led
by queens opportunistically fleeing their murderous sisters - the workers
simply follow - so tend not to have already tanked up on honey.
I just gave a small cast, about 500 grams to a neighbour restarting
beekeeping. And the first swarm I caught this year was certainly less than
1kg. It's so early in the year and the forage is so good right now (unlike
some years) that their size is almost irrelevant. But of course more bees
DOES make a more resilient colony so for very small casts, in say late
June, they WILL struggle so at that late date I now believe it is worth
merging them to make larger, stronger colonies. No need yet!
Paul
On Tue, 10 May 2022 at 21:21, Juli Cohen <juliane.cohen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I’m glad the hiving went well, Jonny. I’m surprised you say the cast swarm
from me was small. It weighed 930g, which I thought was quite big for a
cast swarm. Was Kerry’s swarm so enormous that it made mine look small? 😅
Kerry, did you weigh your swarm? I wonder what the largest swarm is that’s
been caught in this group over the years? 🤔
Juli
On 10 May 2022, at 21:16, Robin Colyer <robin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
A happy hiving for me too today - swarm from Paul and Lynne.
I’m not looking for any more swarms myself, though I may be on the
donating side of things before long, if my other colony swarms and I don’t
miss it.
Very happy to assist others when I can. I’m not ready for swarm season to
be over for me yet, it’s too much fun.
Thanks all,
Robin
On Tue, 10 May 2022 at 21:11, Oxnatbees <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
--
*I believe Jon meant to send this to the mailing list so I will forward
it, with a comment or two - Paul*
Hi. I hived 2 swarms this evening - I had planned to walk them in but in
the end it was really windy around the house - so I shook them in instead
as I didn’t want them to spend a second night boxed up. * [Paul: very
wise. Walking them in is fun, but things can go wrong, so in poor weather
it is best to pop them in as fast as possible. The wind today, and
predicted rain tomorrow will be a big incentive to stay rather than
abscond!]*
The cast swarm from Juli was actually quite small - very docile and
quiet. They went into the hive and only now - an hour or so later are they
venturing outside.
The prime swarm from Kerry was huge & very boisterous and noisy. They
were building comb in some quantity in the 24 hours they were in the swarm
box. They took longer to settle and at one point I thought they were
absconding (could I have lost the queen !?!?!?). In the end they have now
settled down too. We think this swarm is descended from a swarm I gave
Kerry in 2019.
Fingers crossed they are happy.
Thanks to Kerry and Juli for catching and donating. And to Paul and
Lynne for the list in the first place.
Cheers. Jonny
*Robin Colyer* he/him <https://www.mypronouns.org/home>
Joint Artistic Director
Flintlock Theatre
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