Artificial Swarm (Package)
Lexikon
An artificial swarm is a bee colony deliberately created by the beekeeper that imitates the natural swarming process.
An artificial swarm is a bee colony deliberately created by the beekeeper that imitates the natural swarming process. To make one, bees are brushed off the combs of several colonies or shaken into a box and placed into a new hive without any comb at all. Unlike a classic nucleus colony, which receives brood combs, an artificial swarm initially consists only of bees with no comb material of their own. A mated queen is added to it in an introduction cage as soon as the bees show their queenlessness through the characteristic roaring sound.
Depending on the time of year, different amounts of bee mass are needed to form one: according to the Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture, about one and a half kilograms of bees are enough in May and June, while in July it should be around two and a half kilograms, because by then the older generation is already strongly thinned out. Other guides give roughly two kilograms as a rough rule of thumb. After being formed, the artificial swarm is kept for two to three days in cool, dark cellar confinement, essentially a starvation phase, so that the bees prepare to build new comb and, in the open variant, any foulbrood spores present are also excreted harmlessly through the gut. During this time it must be fed, since the bees have had no opportunity to fill their honey stomach.
In practice, the artificial swarm matters above all because it is completely free of brood. Since the varroa mite reproduces exclusively in capped brood, at the time the swarm is formed all the mites are sitting on the adult bees and can be very effectively controlled with a single treatment, for example with lactic acid or oxalic acid. For the same reason, the method, as described by the Kirchhain Bee Institute as the open artificial-swarm method, is also suitable for rehabilitating colonies suspected of foulbrood.
A common mistake is accidentally brushing the queen in with the bees, which can be recognized by the expected queenless roaring failing to appear. It is also often forgotten to choose the new location several kilometers away from the original colony, so that the foraging bees do not return to their old hive.