Ok my bees filled out my brood box in all 8 frames 5 was brood the rest honey and pollen. So i decided to put my honey flow super on and for two week the side window had alot bees
In the viewer. Then a couple of days later they swarmed now without that many bees am going to take the super back off and try to get it started again. Am i doing this right and why did they swarm they had plenty of room.
When you did your inspection prior to placing the super did you notice any signs of swarm prep? I’ve found that in a really packed hive it can be very difficult to really fully evaluate for queen cells. This is especially true if you’re using foundationless frames because the bees build swarm cells in a seemingly more random fashion (not that they’re always along the bottom of the comb) and unless you shake all the bees off, you might miss a queen cell.
If they swarmed only a few days after you placed the super then their preparations had already been well underway when you added the additional space. Also, if your flow frames were not already “finished” with wax between all the cells, they may not immediately see that as a whole lot of extra space since there’s still considerable work to do before they can use it.
Anyway, I think removing the super and letting them build up again is a good plan. Reevaluate in a couple weeks to see that they have a laying queen and you can decide to add the super again then depending on what the nectar flow is like in your area.
I think the only thing you did wrong was you didn’t experience this situation in the past, which wasn’t your fault.
I must have had the same thing happen to me (not a Flow super of course) about 35 years ago, which caused me to never put a honey super on a full brood box without lifting 3 brood frames to place in the middle of the honey super, while replacing them with fresh foundation frames in a checkerboard fashion, as a swarm prevention measure.
In reading your dilemma, I understand that you had the Flow super on for 14 days, plus 2. With that in mind, there probably wasn’t any queen cells to observe. However there would have been queen cups that were extended, ready for the queen to lay eggs in. To me that’s always a sign that a swarm is imminent.
Past experiences, plus further understanding of bee culture has caused me to always be conscious of swarming during spring & summer, which can cause me to go a bit overboard with splitting hives. It’s not a bad thing because that gives me more colonies to sell. Plus I still get a lot of honey to sell.
You did nothing wrong if you learn from it. Adding a super above a QE does not expand the brood nest and if they were crowded there that will generally trigger swarming. The super just gives them more room for honey storage not for brood.
If you are running single a brood box then you have to be right on top of swarm control and regularly inspect the brood box.
Its a mistake we have all made for sure.
Cheers
Rob.
1 Like