April 2026

Pollen, Nectar and Much Activity by Alan Riach

April is here, and spring has finally stopped peeking its head out from under the blanket of winter and emerged in all its flowering glory.

With flowers come busy bees, so time to super and begin regular inspections. There have already been reports of charged queen cells requiring artificial swarming.

If you have not yet had a full inspection, do one now on the first warm day (sunny and above 11C). If the bees are over more than 7 frames, remove any remnants of fondant and put on a queen excluder and a super. Check how many sides of brood are present and make a note. If there is a large amount of sealed brood, remember that it will be young bees in a week or two (two weeks if newly sealed, much less for the brood sealed earlier).

Also, check how much drone brood is present; that is a sign that the bees are well on with things. Drone production anticipates the production of virgin queens.

If the brood box is pretty full of bees and nectar is coming in, the bees will quickly run out of space and bee minds will turn to thinking of swarming. Don’t be afraid to over super (putting on two supers will provide an expanding colony with more space and lessen the likelihood of swarming).

If the brood box is very full of food, remove some frames and store them safely to give the queen space to lay. Otherwise, the bees will shift winter food, which may contain sugar, up into the super and that sugar would then appear in your Spring honey, which is a legal no-no. However, remember the F of FEDSS (Food, Eggs, Disease, Space and Swarming) and leave sufficient food to last them at least until the next inspection.

Remnants of fondant can be kept and made into syrup in autumn (1kg of fondant per 0.4 litre of water), or fed as an emergency in the June gap. Recently, we have been experiencing quite severe June gaps in Scotland. The spring flowers are appearing earlier and the summer flowers not so much, leaving that dangerous period in June where the colonies, very populous by that time, can quickly run out of food.

Drop-out statistics for beginner beekeepers can be high; some surveys have quoted 80% after 3 or 4 years and the most common reason given is “the bees wouldn’t stop swarming”. It is thus important that you learn and practice efficient ways of preventing swarming.

Remember, if you find “charged” queen cells (cells with royal jelly and a grub), you should artificially swarm that day. Knocking down queen cells and entering the land of hope won’t do. When the bees experience charged queen cells being knocked down, they panic and start building emergency cells on every possible biological entity - on eggs, on larvae up to 3 days old. If they’ve built on a 2-day-old larva, the clock is already at day 5 (3 days an egg, 2 days a larva). In 3 days, that cell will be capped and as we all know, the bees swarm when the first queen cell is capped. So, if you knocked down all the cells on Saturday’s inspection, a swarm could issue by Tuesday or Wednesday, leaving you to note next Saturday, a very depleted colony with lots of queen cells. Don’t panic if this happens to you and knock down all the cells again; that will guarantee a queenless colony. Instead, search for the queen and, when satisfied that she is not present, knock down all the cells except one.

There are various artificial swarming methods, and all have their advantages and difficulties. In EMBA, we usually recommend the Pagden method: move the hive to one side, place a hive with a brood box and 9 empty frames in its place with a queen excluder placed temporarily on top of the floor under the brood box. Find the frame with the queen and place that frame with the queen in the centre of the empty brood box, ensuring that there are no queen cells on this frame. Add another frame with some sealed brood beside her (again ensuring that it contains no queen cells), replace queen excluder and super(s) from the original hive, crown board and roof - job done. The temporary queen excluder is left under the brood box for a week, just in case the overexcited scouts still try to persuade the colony to leave – after a week, they will hopefully have given up and settled down. Useful tip - to remind you to remove the lower excluder, place a piece of card between it and the floor, sticking out from behind the hive.

Leave the older colony with at least the two best-looking queen cells, although in fact it is fairly safe to leave all the queen cells, as that colony will be so depleted of bees that they won’t feel strong enough to throw off a cast when the first virgin emerges, and she will be left to carry out her sororicidal tasks (killing her sister virgins).

For the Pagden, you will need 9 empty drawn frames or if not available, frames with foundation. Note - This is a wonderful way of ensuring that you renew the brood comb. Note also that the super(s) go on the colony with the queen as they have all the flying bees and no brood to look after – they will have work to do drawing out the foundation, but they are a vigorous workforce, give them another super if the first one is part-filled.

Variations of the Pagden are the Snelgrove or Demaree – a vertical split method which works just as well but has the inconvenience of having a large brood box to lift off in subsequent inspections.

The Nuc method - removing the frame with the queen on and placing it in a Nuc with some frames of food and young bees and removing all the queen cells except one prime cell in the original colony. Then, cell removal must be repeated 5 or 6 days later, as they will have made more queen cells. If carried out carefully, the Nuc method will guarantee swarm prevention – bees left with only one queen cell will not swarm. However, the problem with this method is that if you miss just one “hidden” cell besides your chosen prime queen cell, then you will guarantee a swarm. When the first virgin emerges, the colony is still strong and with a second virgin coming along, it will want to send the prime virgin off with a swarm. It is VERY easy to miss a queen cell - usually a scrubby wee cell hidden in a dark corner. This will leave you with a wee scrubby queen heading up your colony. We therefore don’t recommend the Nuc method until you become a really competent beekeeper.

For a video clip of the Pagden method, see https://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/advice/bee-basics/how-to- prevent-honey-bees-from-swarming

There were specific names for swarms. The initial swarm with the old queen is the Prime Swarm. The next swarm to depart, usually with a virgin queen, is a Cast. The next one to depart is the Colt and if they still have sufficient virgins and bees, the fourth one is a Filly. I’m sure all of you will arrange things such that you don’t lose a cast, let alone a colt or filly.