Swarm Control, Supering, and Honey Production

1 . What is the Demaree method of preventing swarming without increasing colony numbers?

Place all brood in a new super on the top of the hive, above a queen excluder, leaving the queen below allowing her more space to lay eggs. The bees will go up to tend the brood and thus relieve hive congestion The removal of brood from the queen is a powerful deterrent to swarming. The brood will emerge upstairs and fill the hive with honey

2 . How can the beekeeper assist a captured/collected swarm to build up and succeed?

Put a frame of brood from another colony in with the swarm so they will have nurse bees and foragers within the next days to weeks. Put in a frame of drawn comb so the queen has a ready-made place to start laying eggs. Feed the colony so that they can maximize their own foragers.

3 . What are the two opposing principles of adding supers in the early spring during nectar flow?

The odor of comb stimulates hoarding- but spreading bees over a large area discourages honey hoarding. Take home point- lots of supers encourage hoarding and honey production- but you can overdo it.

4 . When should you add another super?

If there are bees in the top super and the nectar flow is continuing, add another super, If it’s late in the season, remove empty supers to take advantage of overcrowding, for maximum production of honey

5 . Is there any advantage to bottom supering?

No, honey production is the same in top supering