Good, better, best … swarm control
In Swarm-ready? last week, I made the comment that it was “baloney” when the naysayers claimed that swarm control was detrimental to the colony because it was 'unnatural'.
I knew when I made the comment that it wasn't entirely true.
Since this is beekeeping, every statement needs to be qualified.
Other than “knocking back queen cells isn't swarm control”, there are very few absolutes in our hobby.
Without question, swarm control is beneficial.
It keeps the population together as a honey-gathering force, it negates the risk of losing swarms to the environment (where they cause problems for others), and it avoids the repeated loss of swarms and casts that may threaten colony viability.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, it 'saves the bees'; the majority of lost swarms that are not re-hived will perish.
Swarm control of any form, is undoubtedly better than no swarm control.
Nevertheless, for certain populations of bees in the hive, swarm control may be detrimental.
And, knowing why it's detrimental, you'll realise that some swarm control methods are almost certainly less damaging than others.
These methods might be considered 'better' if you are the sort of beekeeper who likes to rank things 😉.
I am.
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