Some swarm statistics from Canberra, Australia

The statistic of likely source of swarms may give some weight to the concerns beekeepers have about an increase in unmanaged hives :wink:

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How do you deduct that more swarms come from unmanaged hives?

When collecting a swarm if there is a hive in the same yard or neighbouring yard it’s a pretty good indicator of the source. One could argue that it’s unmanaged if it’s swarming.

There is a description next to the graph that details the source

A basic observation or discussion with the property owner will usually identify a source of a swarm such as neighbouring hives, tree hollows, wall cavities etc

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Great set of stats RBK, thanks. Do you have any stats for previous years?
61 reported swarms! That’s at least 61 more colonys that could swarm next year!
:wink:

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Great stats. Do you have dates?

I don’t know how Canberra compares- but apparently this year was one of the biggest years for swarming in Adelaide in recent memory. One swarm catcher I met caught 18 swarms in 12 days (one of which he gave to me- its now my second best hive).

I think everyone needs to get up to speed on reducing the swarming impulse and for the experienced keepers out there on the forum - keep up the good and constant advice in relation to this. You see them in chimneys and in brick cavities under houses. Some people don’t notice that they have settled in their houses until they are well established and particularly for struggling pensioners and the anxious it is not a good thing - would be stressful for them.

Yeah we do, unfortunately the app doesn’t show a nice date graph out of the box, will try put something together.

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We don’t unfortunately, but we have a rough idea from swarm collectors in the local club. This year as mentioned in the post we did 90 or so total, with 61 fully tracked. We expect more next year because of the effort we have put in to get our name out there (not to mention the huge number of nucs sold this year to new beekeepers).

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Thanks RBK, you’re doing great work over there we need your like over here.
Looking forward to seeing how next years figures go.