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How to shook swarm a colony.

Removing all of the brood from a colony will significantly reduce a Varroa infestations, as these mites spend the majority of their life inside brood cells. A shook swarm - where all of the bees are transferred onto fresh foundation -removes infested combs, along with mites and pathogens. Though it initially reduces the size  of a colony and impacts its productivity, treated colonies typically recover well, often yielding a good late-season honey crop and enter the winter stronger. This method also helps curb swarming by mimicking the natural swarm process.

 

It is best to carry out a shook swarm early in the season when there is a large population of younger worker bees capable of producing wax and the weather is warm enough. It is also not recommended to use this technique on colonies with less than 6 frames of brood. 

 

Before starting you will need - 

  • a replacement brood box and floor

  • a queen excluder

  • a queen cage

  • a rapid feeder.

  1. Move the hive you intend to treat to one side and place the new hive floor, followed by the queen excluder and then the brood box in the original hive location. Make sure that the queen excluder does not sag at the entrance as this will prevent the bees from absconding.

  2. Place six frames of foundation, three at each side, in the new brood box. Open the colony to be treated and place any supers to one side. 

  3. If possible, find the queen, cage her and place the queen in the cage in the new hive. This is not essential though.

  1. Shake all of the bees from all of the old brood combs into the new brood chamber. Any bees on the floor or sides of the old brood box can be knocked into the new hive.

  2. Fill the space in the center of the new hive with frames of foundation. Release the queen if she is caged.

  3. There should now be no brood in the new hive. Reassemble the hive, and feed the colony syrup to encourage wax production. Continue feeding the colony until all of the foundation has been drawn. Store any supers from the colony until the queen is laying, and then return these to the colony. Destroy the old brood frames or render out the wax.

  4. Inspect the colony after a week and if brood is being produced remove the lower queen excluder from the colony.

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