Bees, Hives and Colonies
"Management of a Honeybee Colony with the Dartington Long Deep Hive"
"Beekeeping needs to be economical, convenient and safe if it is to flourish in the year 2001 and beyond.
The British Standard hive - "The National" - was introduced some eighty years ago and has served well. Since then however, our understanding of bees, the climate and indeed the whole way in which we live, have all changed considerably. Placing all the honey storage above the brood box makes the National arduous to operate, as all this weight must be moved every time the brood needs to be inspected.
This booklet explains how to manage the Dartington Long Deep Hive, whose body provides the same volume as two standard National bodies plus two honey supers placed side by side. At first sight it may appear a large hive - but the overall volume when its four honey-boxes are in place is in fact 4% less than a National in mid-summer, when two brood boxes and four supers are needed for swarm control and honey storage.
The Long DeepHhive has been used continuously by Robin Dartington since 1975, but never in sufficient numbers for evaluation. It is hoped that beekeepers across Britain will conduct their own tests and publish their experience for the benefit of beekeeping generally.
THE COLONY LIFE-CYCLE
New Beekeeping is a new approach to the craft, based on a respect for the instincts of the bee and, in particular, for the complex organisation of its nest. The task of the beekeeper is to monitor the colony with a minimum of disturbance and to deduce the point which the colony has reached in its annual cycle of development. [ see attached diagrams]A new colony is formed in nature from a swarm, and matures over the following few years, throwing a swarm each year if conditions are right, before it finally succumbs to disease or failure to re-queen. The behaviour of a colony at any time depends on the state of the development cycle it has reached. For example bees naturally concentrate on enlarging the brood nest in Spring and build new comb eagerly, and ahead of need. But in autumn the urge is to consolidate food stores before winter and the bees will only build comb reluctantly and ‘just in time'.
The first aim of the beekeepers management is to assist the colony to develop to its maximum potential, since only strong, healthy colonies are productive. A strong colony is also feisty. The second management aim is to avoid the issue of swarms by inducing the bees to follow a modified cycle in which the rearing of a single new queen is substituted for wasteful swarming.
Bees can be led but not driven.
The beekeeper has to work within the instincts of the bees, laid down millions of years before Man emerged through evolution.
COLONY DEVELOPMENT
The theory of colony development assumes that, if the queen is separated from the brood before natural queen-cells have been started, the colony is forced back into the state which it had in early spring, and will not swarm before completing its brood nest for a second time.This theory owes its origin to Samuel Simmins who wrote in 1886:
"No colony in normal condition attempts to swarm unless it has all its brood combs completed".
The rear, queen-less, part of the colony is not wholly isolated at first. This induces the bees at the rear to start queen-rearing under the supercedure impulse since they remain 'in contact' but receive a reduced amount of 'queen-substance'. When the division board of the Long Deep Hive is inserted, the bees in the rear portion of the hive allow a new queen to emerge, which is later transferred by the beekeeper to head the united colony. The theory is that the bees accept this enforced renewal of the queen as fulfillment of the urge to reproduce; in consequence they will not swarm with the new queen during the rest of the current season.
The system appears reliable if weather and time allow the management steps to be followed properly. Strong colonies can however be ready to swarm by the end of April, when it is still too wet and cold to open the colony.
Earlier preparations are therefore important, and include:
Removing combs in Autumn, in order to reduce the colony from a 'mature' state (in which the colony occupies all the comb needed for its peak needs and can concentrate on reproduction through swarming) to an 'immature' state in which the first priority of the colony is to increase the area of the combs.
Providing comb foundation in early Spring, in order to stimulate comb building. The expenditure of energy on building comb early in Spring delays the timing of subsequent stages in the annual colony cycle.