BBKA Forum

British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • Swarm prevention

  • General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #6263  by Jeskyns
 08 Apr 2020, 16:11
Hi all new to beekeeping mid last year so just wanted some opinions on my thoughts regarding an artificial swarm.
When I need to perform one I was looking at the Pagden method. My question is my research suggests moving the queen over with a frame of bias but some posts argue that they may continue to make swarm cells on this frame. Does anyone transfer the queen over on undrawn foundation only, add a 1:1 feed and queen excluder to be safe? The colony I have was a swarm I lured which was on new foundation and they stayed so...
Thanks Michael
 #6264  by NigelP
 08 Apr 2020, 16:20
Welcome.
Worth reading thread "is this a swarmy year" where you will find some answers to give you some idea of swarm controls.
Nothing works 100%....which is why some say do this and others say don't do that do this.
If it was me I would prefer to add a frame of sealed brood with the queen part of the split. But sometimes this is not possible as you pick her up on a frame with BIAS and then I would use that......use what you have on the day you do it and take it from there.