BEEKEEPING
From page 8
sters about the hive the older
longer build the large swarms bees decide that this is not the
life for them, and a swarming
that occur in European bees
instinct prevails, and the
that do not swarm off as
mother queen, too, decides
readily.
I am of the opinion that in the it's time to move on. The
scouts set about finding a new
early Spring and October
home and away they go. The
there is a rapid breeding of
first sign of these many
young bees and our swarms
become overloaded with too energetic young bees is a
regular, at practically the same
many young bees that have
time daily, flight out of the
not as yet become foraging
hives for what are called
bees. With all these young-
orientation flights. Another
sign is that one will notice that
the bees cluster up the front
of the hive.
Once the scout bees have
found new premises, there is
not much one can do to stop
the swarm off of the primary
swarm.
K Migratory swarms ~ This is
a process of swarming brought
about by a number of factors,
mainly by mismanagement of
the beekeeper himself.
A shortage of forage and no
follow-on of forage after the
main source of forage has
expired can cause migratory
swarming. This is the case
where a migrating beekeeper
moves hives to, say, a
sunflower crop where there is
an abundance of pollen and
nectar. This flow lasts about
six weeks after which time
there is absolutely no further
forage about in the near
vicinity for the bees.
The beekeeper crops the
10
www.sasmallholder.co.za
honey but fails to move the
bees and they become
exceedingly hungry. They
clean out the entire hive of
every morsel of pollen and
nectar, no dead brood will be
found but only a mass of
clean empty cells throughout
the hive.
Another cause is overrobbing of the honey crop
from a very strong hive. The
beekeeper under-estimates
the volume of honey that a
very strong swarm needs to
perform daily and the bees
soon become hungry and
move off.
These swarms will move
great distances to find
adequate forage for their
survival, perhaps being on
the move as long as three
weeks. By that time many of
the older bees will have died
of exhaustion and hunger,
but sufficient survive to start
up a new nest again.
Continued on page 12