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What is checkerboarding? A solution to prevent swarming that requires no intervention within the brood nest, increases colony size and therefore honey yields and replaces the resident queen through supersedure (the process of superseding). Walter Wright, a retired NASA engineer, first invented the swarm prevention technique checkerboarding. Join the three authors of this book for their take on the observational writings of Walter Wright by giving a simplified version of Wright's original texts, alongside their own findings.
For many beekeepers swarming is an annual challenge. For those of us living in close proximity to non-beekeepers, there are particular sensitivities to be observed and swarming keeps us on our toes and preoccupies us through the late spring and early summer. There are whole books dedicated to swarming – the mechanics of it, how to recognise swarming, swarm prevention, swarm control measures and so on. The authors explain their recognition for the importance of swarming with respect to procreation and genetic diversity. They also realise the angst beekeepers suffer when we get that knock at the door from a neighbour that states 'your bees have swarmed into my garden/shed/porch'. And how can we deny that they are our bees? Even without the proximity of neighbours most beekeepers endure a sustained period of colony inspections, checking for early swarm indicators i.e. queen cells. Therefore, the solution to swarm prevention which does not involve extensive hive manipulations, inspections, mitigation measures, remains one of the holy grails of beekeeping.
Checkerboarding, if it is carried out correctly, will prevent swarming and requires no intervention within the brood nest.
