Increase
Increase - Summary of Methods
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Increase Increase - Summary of Methods |
Making Increase in Honey Bee Colonies (Method 1) |
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This page was originally written by Dave Cushman. I have edited it slightly to make it easier to follow, but not otherwise altered the content. See my comments in this blue text throughout and at the bottom of the page. Roger Patterson.
A method of increasing the number of bee stocks, whilst maintaining the line of a particular breeder queen.
| This method was originally developed by Dr C.C. Miller and described in a book "Productive Beekeeping" by Frank Pellett (published 1916). The version detailed here has been modified to suit UK conditions and week-end working. I have not been able to find a 1916 copy, but in a 1918 copy this method is on page 111. It is very different from the way Dave Cushman describes it below, almost to the point where it is a different method. R.P. |
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To start this method we need to make a few preparations... We need at least two apiaries separated far enough apart to stop bees returning to their original site.
We require ten colonies (or more) in Apiary No.1, one of these should have a selected "breeder" queen that we wish to propagate against the background of drones that are available. Space is needed in a second apiary for the extra colonies. The colony containing our "breeder" queen should be on Stand 1. Spare drawn brood combs will make life much easier, as they will be used to fill the spaces in hives that are robbed to provide sealed brood.
The extra equipment can be made or acquired week by week, as the method progresses on a Saturday to Saturday weekly timetable (Sunday if Saturday is wet). Two extra colonies (strong nucs) are produced every week.
The layout of the sites is not critical, apart from the two "stands", Stand 1 and Stand 2, which can, to advantage, be a couple of paving slabs.
The starting date will be dependent on the season and how advanced or retarded the bees are. However, the first or second week in May should be a good starting point... Fresh drones must have already emerged from their cells.
No mention has been made about the provision of suitable drones... But the more that you do, in this respect, the better will be the consistancy of the resulting queens.
I make no mention of feeding in the manipulations... Use your own judgment and feed as required. Similarly no mention is made of placing supers on colonies H2-H10, as this will depend on your prevailing conditions.
Week oneH2 is moved to one side at a time when most of the field bees will be out flying.
Let us take stock of what we have just done... On this first week we have only increased our colony count by one. H2 in Apiary 2 has few flying bees, but has it's original queen and should recover quickly. The "new" colony (H11 Stand 1) has the breeder queen, a flying force of bees, some ageing and emerging brood, but no eggs or young larvae. Eggs should be laid very quickly. H1 on Stand 2 has the flying bees from H2 and as it is queenless it will raise queencells using young larvae that are the offspring of our breeder queen. Week two
Taking stock of what we have done this week... We have increased our colony count by two (total now 13). H2 in Apiary 2 is still recovering. Another "new" colony, H12 Stand 1, has the breeder queen, a flying force of bees, some ageing and emerging brood, but no eggs or larvae young enough to give rise to queen cells. H11 on Stand 2 has the flying bees from our original H1 colony and as it is queenless it will raise queencells using young larvae from eggs that the breeder queen has laid during the last week. Week three
This week our colony count is 15. H2 should be getting stronger. Stand 1 has the breeder queen. Stand 2 is queenless and is raising queencells from our "breeder queen" larvae. The constant removal of brood from H3-H10 should negate swarming in these colonies. Week four
Our colony count is now 19. Subsequent weeksUsing the same principles in the following weeks will provide two more nucs per week. As the first nucs get their queens mated they will need to be transferred to full sized hives which frees up the nuc boxes for re-use. There may be occasions, in the middle of the season, when three or four nucs can be made from the queenless colony instead of two... Which gives even further increase. If we assume a ten week season (we might get 12) our colony count should be 35 or more. Some queens may not get mated, but you should have ample material to make good such losses. The colony on Stand 2 is always queenless, but gets a constant supply of brood. On the last occasion that this method is used this colony ceases to exist as it forms the last two nucs. Colonies H3-H10 can be (and should be) requeened, at any time during the season, from spare "breeder" queencells on frames in queen excluding frame cages. In my view these colonies should be queenright at all times if possible. Any brood break or the chance of a queen not getting mated will mean the colony won't be able to provide brood. I would prefer to requeen late in the season. R.P. In a very good season the first nucs in Apiary 2 will develop strongly and quickly enough to allow the process to be allowed to flow in reverse as well, putting fresh nucs back into Apiary 1 (or a third apiary) for a few weeks at the end of the season. When I was a beekeeper of only two years experience, I increased from 9 to 35 colonies by this method and the collection of a few swarms (which were mainly used for comb drawing). This method is very stable, providing, the 5 frame nucs that are made are strong enough (the first few in a season may be a little weak, but they have more time to "catch up"). As with anything in beekeeping... The weather may wreak it's havoc so no guarantees can be given. If full size brood boxes are available they can be used to make the nucs with the addition of frames of foundation, dummy frames or drawn comb to fill in the extra spaces. This may save time later in the season. Originally written by Dave Cushman. Edited by Roger Patterson. As a long time queen rearer, it concerns me that such a large number of queens are raised from one queen for the same apiary. My preference would be to raise queens separately or to propagate from a number of queens. Dave suggests moving combs containing only "old and sealed brood, but no eggs or young larvae". This is virtually impossible if taken from a colony with a laying queen. This breeder queen appears to be transferred into a different colony (on Stand 1) every week. This concerns me. If she is "placed" as suggested, it seems she is just placed on the combs. I think the bees from 10 colonies and the incoming foragers will kill her. Not a good way of treating a good queen! If she is placed in an introduction cage we will be wasting the time she isn't laying. I simply don't understand this move. I have studied Miller's method, which is different in several respects to what Dave Cushman tried to achieve. Miller was working in America in different conditions and with much more prolific bees than we have in the U.K. Miller worked on a 9 day cycle, not the 7 that Dave tried to use, which made sure there was no chance of emergency cells being built on introduced brood, 7 days is a bit tight. Miller also didn't state whether he transferred bees with combs or not, which I find strange as it isn't obvious. He clearly worked within the same apiary, not in two. It must be stated that this information is second hand as Pellett was merely recounting what Miller had done. It looks from the text of Pellett's book that Miller probably only tried it once anyway. I am very reluctant to criticise Dave Cushman, because he was such a good and knowledgeable beekeeper. In my view there are too many flaws in this system for it to work in this form. I have given my reasons. I certainly don't advise an inexperienced beekeeper to try it, without guidance. If I had 10 colonies at my disposal that I could use purely for making increase I would probably use other methods of doing it. I would consider taking 2 frame nucs away at regular intervals. I believe that in a reasonable summer in West Sussex I would increase those 10 colonies into around 100 strong enough to overwinter, rather than the 35 stated. Roger Patterson.
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