Swarm cell inspections

[Anybrew2]

Hi,whats the best way to check for Swarm Cells? I have usually pulled the Brood box apart and gone through the frames one by one which takes time.
I saw a commercial keeper the other other day with all the brood box's pulled off the bottom board and placed on their sides on top of  supers. It appeared they were checking for Swarm cells.
Is that a better way of doing it?

Cheers
Steve

[BeeMaster2]

I do not usually look for swarm cells unless I am in the hive to do a split. I do it the way you do it but I have seen several beeks, lift up the brood box and look under it. Swarm cells are normally on the bottom of frames.
Most of the time by the time you see swarm cells, it is too late to stop them from swarming or they have already swarmed. If you find swarm cells in the spring, try to find the old queen and move her. That way the hive thinks they swarmed and they may stay put.
Jim

[Culley]

Swarm cells make great nucs.

[Michael Bush]

>whats the best way to check for Swarm Cells?

I don't check for them much.  If I'm doing a split I check because if they are opened, I may have a virgin and no eligible larvae.  But otherwise, I just look for them if I happen to be in the hive.  Granted I try to get into the hive in the middle of prime swarm season to open the brood nest and avoid swarming, but sometimes they have cells and I do splits...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesswarmcontrol.htm

[Anybrew2]

I'm starting not to worry about them either , its a lot of work. I do checker board the brood nest if they are getting crowded. However I would say 70% of my hives swarm though.

[hollie]

Hi All.  Also pretty new to beekeeping.  Have 2 hives that were nucs late in the season (end of March) and I fed through winter. Both are doing well. I'm in W.A. in the southwest.
What do swarm cells actually look like? What makes them different from other
big/long cell structures? Is it just the time of year that they occur?
Have looked at the pictures on your site  Michael- thanks for the link!
Cheers
Hollie

[Anybrew2]

Hi Hollie they look like a Peanut in the Shell and hang downwards with their openning facing down. They are usually at the lower portion of the frame, but can be anywhere in my limited experience. I WA I d say ur Hives have swarmed already or are about to.

Cheers
Steve

[Oldbeavo]

Hi Anybew2
Checker boarding is a new term to me, please explain

[Anybrew2]

Old Beavo, its the method of going through the Brood Box and opening it up or making room for the Queen to lay eggs. You remove frames of Brood and place them in the super and replace them with drawn frames or empty frames. Its called checker boarding as you remove a full frame replace with an empty frame. I do not do the whole box I replace two or three in a 8 frame box. I learnt the technique here.

Cheers
Steve

[Oldbeavo]

Thanks for the explanation
I do a similar thing if a hive is very strong, but instead of putting the frames up I put them in a nuc, especially if one has a queen cell on it.
If it is a swarm year then it is not a guarranteed system as i still had some swarm after taking out some frames. Unsure if it a timing thing that needs to be done before the hive has decided to swarm or that more bees need to be removed.
How early in the Spring do you checker board hives?

[Anybrew2]

I'm no expert mate, but Bee's do what ever they like when it comes to swarming, I think the checker boarding helps stop it a bit. In early Spring or even late Winter is when I checker board but only the real strong hives. But as i said they still seem to swarm a fair bit. I could make Nucs too but I have too many hives. I wanted three and have 33 now......too many.

[hollie]

Hi Anybrew2: Thanks for the heads up re swarming potential in the SW of WA about now. Have been noticing a lot of hanging about outside the front of the hive with one of mine, and went in yesterday to manipulate frames along the lines of your checkerboarding. Took a frame of honey up to super with one that had some capped brood on it to encourage them to come up to the top box and get cracking instead of lazing about out front 
 There was no sign of swarm cells in brood box. Hope this will make a difference to the room in box 1.
Cheers
Hollie.