Checkerboarding is a term used in

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

that describes a specific

hive management Hive management in beekeeping refers to intervention techniques that a beekeeper may perform to ensure hive survival and to maximize hive production. Hive management techniques vary widely depending on the objectives. For honey production The dep ...

technique to prevent swarming. The technique was developed by Walt Wright, a long time beekeeper from

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

.Wright, Walt
Swarm Prevention Alternative – Checkerboarding Results and Conclusions
1996, Elkton, Tennessee Checkerboarding takes advantage of the bee colony's primary motivation, which is survival as survival of the existing colony takes priority over swarm preparation and swarming. Bees will not prepare for a reproductive swarm if they perceive the survival of the existing colony might be jeopardized. It is hypothesized that swarm preparation starts in the late winter. The over-wintering colony consumes

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

and expands the brood volume. At this point, the bee colony apparently senses that it has enough remaining honey stores and a large enough

brood nest In beekeeping, bee brood or brood refers to the eggs, larvae and pupae of honeybees. The brood of Western honey bees develops within a bee hive. In man-made, removable frame hives, such as Langstroth hives, each frame which is mainly occupied ...

to risk swarm preparation. The bee colony's first activity of swarm preparation is to reduce the brood volume by creating additional stores inside the brood area. As

brood Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American Periodical Cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest b ...

emerges, selected cells are back-filled with honey,

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

, or

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

. Later into the season, as space for egg laying decreases the queen will not be able to lay as many eggs. This forces the queen to diet and lose weight so she becomes fit for the swarm flight. Apparently, at the first time this type of backfilling behavior starts is the best time to do the Checkerboarding intervention. It requires filling two hive boxes above the broodnest each alternately with capped honey-filled frames and empty drawn frames. Alternating empty drawn combs above the brood nest "fools" the bees into thinking they don't have enough stores yet for swarming and causes them to expand the brood nest, giving both a bigger field force and avoiding reproductive swarming. Timing the checkerboarding intervention is very important (note that all these times are different reference points that refer to the same time in the United States). The best time for the intervention is: * when the

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...

trees bloom * four weeks before the

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

trees bloom * five weeks before

redbud ''Cercis'' is a genus of about 10 species in the subfamily Cercidoideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to warm temperate regions. It contains small deciduous trees or large shrubs commonly known as redbuds. They are characterised by si ...

trees bloom * eight weeks before the start of the

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

tree blossom * nine weeks before the peak of the apple tree blossom

Sources

* {{cite web , url=http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?194278-Experiment-participants-wanted , title=Thread: Experiment participants wanted , author=Michael Bush , date=January 17, 2006 , publisher=Beesource , accessdate=March 1, 2006 Beekeeping