Preparing for 1st Swarm

Hi everyone! I hope this isn’t a double up question but I can’t find quite the help I am after, though I am sure it’s somewhere in the forums.
So, I have one flow hive which I got last spring. The colony is doing awesome and I am preparing for a swarm, which seems to be what they do yearly. I am due to receive my second flow hive in a couple weeks. So, my question is, what is the best was to go about dealing with the potential swarm? I am a newbie, so forgive my poor bee language or my lack of knowledge.
Should I split my current hive and leave the queen where she is, and buy a new queen to add to my new flow hive? Should I pop the queen along with several existing frames into the new flow hive and if so when? As I don’t want to leave my existing hive queenless.

Also, I would rather not have to take my existing hive to another location, If possible.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! I don’t want to wreck this or loose my little bees! Thanks everyone.
Carly :+1:t3::slightly_smiling_face:

Hi Carly and welcome to the forum! Yes, the bees will swarm every year in spring once the colony is large enough. It’s just how they reproduce. You can do a split to pre-empt a swarm, but the timing is important - as in your query:

If you’re in time to make a split, you definitely want to take your existing queen with it since she’s the one who would leave the hive with a portion of the workers as a swarm. As you’ll read, if she has been laying well, there will be young larvae for the workers to choose from in order to make a new queen.

Rather than describe the different timing scenarios and options, I found this thread for you - the Wally Shaw swarm prevention booklet in it might seem like a lot to get through, but is a must-read for comprehensive practical swarm guidance:

You can use it to figure out your game plan based on what you see in your next (ASAP) inspection. You don’t have to wait for your new Flow to arrive - you can probably pick up a deep brood box from a local supplier to use now, and then transfer into the Flow later. Or leave them in it, since it’s compatible with the rest of the kit.

Please keep your questions coming and you’ll get loads more help!

2 Likes

Aw thank you so much for responding to me @Eva :slightly_smiling_face: I appreciate it heaps! As soon as I get a nice day here I will inspect them and see where they’re at. Today is looking promising. Thank you!

2 Likes