User:IndyBeeDude/sandbox

A "Taranov Board" is a both a system, as well as the equipment used in this system, used by bee keepers to preserve their use and access to worker bee population and the  queen bee that would be lost when a swarm leaves the domesticated hive. Honey bee colonies propagate by engaging in swarming behaviour whereby half (or more) of the colony collectively leaves the original hive with the original queen bee to form a new colony and search for a new hive location. The remainder of the bees and a new queen remain in the original hive. Swarming behavior significantly reduces a colony's honey making productivity by reducing the number of worker bees in the original hive. Beekeepers use various strategies and methods to prevent swarming, such as the use of a Taranov board to capture the swarm into new hive before it leaves the original hive of its own accord.

Origin
The system was invented in 1947 by G. F. Taranov, a Russian beekeeper who recognized that swarms are composed primarily of very young nurse bees that haven’t yet secreted brood food or wax. All their energy is conserved for the task of starting a new colony from scratch. These young nurses have never taken orientation flights either, so they don’t know their way around the outside world. Taranov used this inexperience to separate the swarmers from the non-swarmers.

Swarm Prevention System
Taranov Board system entails identifying colony that have undertaken swarming preparations and taking steps to encouraged the colony to separate itself into the groups of bees that will leaving with the swarm and those that will remain with the original hive after the swarm.

Equipment Design
A Taranov board on consists of a ramp approximately 45 degrees from the ground constructed of wood placed in a few inches in front of the original bee hive. A cloth sheet may also be placed on the ramp extending a few feet.

Use
The Taranov board is place a few feet in front of the original hive. Frames from the original hive are shaken over the board to dislodge bees from the frames. Because of the inclined orientation of the board the bees begin to crawl up toward the entrance of the original hive. Older bees that will remain with the original hive have the ability to fly across the gap between the board and the entrance to the original hive. The younger bees along with the queen will coalescence at top of the board's ramp and underneath. The sheet and board and gathered place above a new hive that allow the queen and the younger worker bees to enter and establish a new colony.