PerthshireBees · Perthshire, UK · Swarms · Jun 10, 2026
Third swarm this week from the same apiary — what is my swarm control actually missing?
Seven seasons in and I'm getting schooled. Twelve colonies here in Perthshire, and this week the apiary has thrown a prime swarm on Monday and two casts since, all traceable to two colonies I thought I had under control.
I've been inspecting on a 9-day cycle. Went through the swarmed double-brood colony yesterday and found three opened cells I never saw — one tucked under brace comb along a bottom bar, two buried in a patch of drone comb in the corner of a frame I clearly didn't shake bees off. So the eggs went into those cells days before my last inspection and I just didn't see them.
We're right at the peak here, hawthorn done, colonies bursting. Question for those who don't lose swarms in June: is it the cycle length, or the technique? Do you shake every single frame during swarm season? Feels like it doubles inspection time but so does chasing casts round the garden.
#swarm-control#queen-cells#inspection#casts
▲ 26 votes💬 4 replies
4 replies
ImkerinLena · Jun 10, 2026
The cycle is your problem. A queen cell is capped 8 days after the egg is laid, and a colony can swarm the day it's capped — sometimes earlier in hot weather. A 9-day cycle only works with clipped queens, where a lost queen falls in the grass and buys you time. Unclipped, you need 7 days maximum during the peak. And yes: in May and June I shake or brush bees from every brood frame. It is the only way to see cells along the bottom bars.
GeorgiaWes · Jun 10, 2026
22 years and I still find cells hiding in drone comb corners. Two things changed my loss rate: clipping queens, and giving space BEFORE they want it. If the brood nest is wall to wall in early June you're already late. Checkerboard the supers, open the nest with drawn comb if you have it.
SkaneBees · Jun 10, 2026
Same story in Skåne two seasons ago. What fixed it for me wasn't shorter cycles, it was doing a proper artificial swarm the moment I saw charged cups instead of trying to keep knocking cells down. Cell destruction almost never works — miss one and you're posting this thread.
PerthshireBees · Jun 11, 2026
Fair hits all round. Queens here aren't clipped, so 7 days it is until the flow turns. And SkaneBees, guilty as charged — I did knock cells down in one of them a fortnight ago and told myself it was handled. Pagden boards are coming out of the shed.