Swarming Essentials with Stephen Repasky (S4, E17)

Beekeeping Today Podcast

In this episode, we talk with Steve Repasky about his book, Swarming Essentials, published by WicWas Press in 2014. Steve is in the middle of updating his book and we found him ready to talk about swarming in general, and what’s new in the world of swarms that he’s putting in his next edition.

Basically, the biology of swarms hasn’t changed much, although there seems to be an uptick in fall swarms in his part of the world. But what has changed is we now have a better understanding of honey bee biology. This helps the beekeeper make better hive management choices to help reduce the colony’s urge to swarm.

When a colony is in equilibrium, that is a laying queen, a healthy population, lots of nectar and pollen coming in and plenty of brood, life is good. However, change any of these suddenly and the equilibrium gets unbalanced and swarming can happen.

We talk with Steve about how nectar management is critical to reduce swarming. This is why Steve uses only a single deep for brood and lots of boxes for nectar. Making sure most of the bees are close together and there is lots of room for incoming nectar is paramount in controlling this most common problem with keeping bees.

Listen today. Swarming… what do you think?

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

• Swarming Essentials - http://wicwas.com/project/swarm-essentials-23-00/
• Beginner's Beekeeping Guide on Porch (Kim's article) - https://porch.com/advice/beekeeping-tips-experts
• Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. BetterBee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

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Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

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