Shook Swarm

Association Colony

The colony that was kindly donated by David Marsden, a former FDBKA member, has completed its quarantine. It has been treated with Oxalic Acid for phoretic varroa and passed a health and temperament assessment before being moved to the Training Apiary 10 days ago. This is the same procedure as for a collected swarm of unknown origin.

An inspection on Sunday 23 March revealed a colony in great need of a complete change of equipment. Many of the brood frames were rotten and broke easily, and the whole brood box was bunged up with propolis, brace comb and honey.

It was decided a shook swarm should be done as soon as the weather is warm enough.

Why Shook Swarm?

Shook swarms are carried out on colonies that need a complete change of comb or have a high level of Chalkbrood infection. It is also a treatment for low levels of EFB that may be ordered by the Bee Inspector*

The benefit is that the colony starts again in a completely new home that is varroa-free and without of all the debris and accumulated detritus that older comb contains. Shook swarmed colonies are said to take to grow much more vigorously afterwards.

It is only suitable for colonies with at least 6 seams of bees and enough young bees 10-20 days old to draw out the large amount of comb required. A feed of thick sugar syrup is needed, even if there is a nectar flow. Smaller colonies can be shook swarmed into a nuc.

Shook swarm can be done between March and July. However, all the brood is lost, so shook swarm should not be carried out in the weeks before the main nectar flow as there won’t be enough foragers to benefit from it.

Equipment

• Clean floor
• Queen excluder
• Foam entrance blocker
• Clean brood box
• 11 frames of foundation
• Crown board
• Rapid feeder
• 4.5 Litres thick syrup
• Roof
• Large bin bag for old frames to be destroyed.

Method

• Move the hive to one side
• Clean the ground underneath of any debris
• Add the clean floor
• Add the queen excluder
• Add the brood box. The flying bees will return to this box.
• Close the entrance with the foam blocker to keep the bees in the box.
• Put in the frames of foundation leaving out 4 frames in the middle
• Go through the original brood box and find the queen
• Cage the queen for safe keeping and keep her warm in your pocket
• Remove the frames from the original box one by one and shake the bees off with a sharp tug taking care not to knock the frame on the side of the box.
• Any bees still clinging to the frame can be lightly brushed or stroked off with the back of your hand or with a leafy twig (not a bee brush which can damage the bees and collect dirt or infection).
• When all the bees are in the new box carefully put the remaining frames in the space and let them sink down on their own. Do not push them down.
• Release the queen onto the new frames. Do not forget and take her home!
• Remove the entrance blocker to allow the flying bees to come and go.
• Add the feeder and syrup.
• Put on the crown board and roof.

Follow-up

• Once comb is drawn, and the queen has started to lay, the queen excluder can be removed.
• They need to be supplied with syrup until all the frames have been drawn out.
• Bees can’t draw comb next to the wall of the hive so the end frames should be turned round once one side is drawn.
• Supers can be put on once all the frames have been drawn out, but not before or they will start to work on the supers.
• Oxalic acid treatment can be given before any brood is capped. The colony will then be practically varroa-free.

Alan Baxter

27 March 2025