New method to suppress swarming behaviour

For millions of years, bees have ensured the survival of their species through swarming. Swarming is a natural process whose main objective is to create new, healthy and genetically diverse colonies (the males that will mate with the virgin queen in a new territory have a different genetic background). Beekeepers, however, want colonies that develop well and become strong without swarming. A colony with swarming intent (swarming fever) no longer builds comb and collects little nectar. The summer harvest is often lost. How can this swarming fever be suppressed? A new method developed by the Sion Beekeeping Association (www.ApiSion.ch) appears promising.

1. Introduction

Under normal circumstances, the pheromones continuously released by the queen prevent the workers from raising another queen. If, for whatever reason, the queen begins to emit fewer pheromones, the colony enters a state of “swarming fever”. This fever can be detected through warning signs:

The workers build queen cells that are larger than the others and are characterised by their vertical construction, unlike the horizontal cells for drones, workers, or the storage of pollen or honey.

The workers give the queen small headbutts and stop feeding her. As a result, the queen lays fewer and fewer eggs. Under normal conditions, open brood occupies more space than capped brood. A few days before swarming, due to lack of space for egg laying and especially because of reduced laying activity, capped brood occupies more space than open brood. When this ratio reverses, the swarm departs.
The workers appear idle on the landing board. Their wax glands develop, and six small wax scales appear on their abdomen (visible when the bee is turned over), preparing them to build new combs in the future hive.

When the queen agrees to lay eggs in around a dozen queen cells, or when the workers have transferred eggs into them and these cells are capped, the process is set in motion. A few days later, young queens emerge. Slimmed down by the interruption of egg laying, the old queen is now able to fly and accompanies the swarm shortly before the birth of the queens that will replace her. These princesses fight to the death to become the new mother queen inheriting the hive (Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essaimage).

The workers begin building queen cells along the edges of the brood nest, into which the queen will soon lay eggs. This marks the beginning of an uninterrupted cascade of events:

Foraging, building activity, and cleaning behaviour decrease significantly
Aggressiveness increases
The workers feed their queen less; they shake her, push her, and even bite her
As a consequence, the queen loses weight and reduces her egg-laying activity, while at the same time becoming capable of flight again
The bees also prepare for “departure” and gorge themselves with food. Within about ten days, the average weight of their honey stomach quadruples. Even bees that will not leave take part in these feeding frenzies
The sugar concentration of the workers’ honey stomach contents increases from around 40% to 70%. Additional reserves are accumulated in the bees’ fat body.

Stopping swarming fever is very difficult. Regular destruction of queen cells (at least once a week) is sometimes recommended but in practice tends to accelerate swarming. Dividing the colony (artificial swarm) or the Demaree method show good success rates. The Sion Beekeeping Section (www.ApiSion.ch) has tested a new method involving caging the queen for at least 14 days. The results are promising.

2. Basic principle of the “queen caging” method

The basic principle of this method is to cage the queen for at least 14 days in an isolation cage that allows worker access (e.g. a Scalvini cage).
The queen continues laying eggs inside the cage without interruption, but the brood fails to develop because the cage is not high enough for the bees to draw out the cells.
After about 14–24 days, the balance between capped cells and cells ready for egg laying is restored and swarming fever is extinguished. The queen is released at that time.

The queen is caged in a “Scalvini” cage

3. Procedure

As soon as swarming fever has set in, the cage is inserted into a drawn comb frame, preferably in the middle of the brood nest and towards the top of the frame (cut the cage dimensions into the comb).
If a nectar flow is still ongoing, there must be sufficient honey combs available within the colony so that brood combs are not filled with honey.
Remove ALL queen cells
After 5 days, recheck and remove any remaining queen cells

After 14 days, check that the balance between capped cells and cells ready for egg laying has been restored and that swarming fever has subsided.
Release the queen and, after one week, check that there are no queen cells and that the queen is active.

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New method to suppress swarming behaviour

1. Introduction

2. Basic principle of the “queen caging” method

3. Procedure

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