Two Reasons to Swarm
But there is a broader reason why bees swarm, beyond simply needing more space.
Swarming for Space
- For whatever reason, the colony decides it needs to swarm
- Future queens are prepared, in queen cups
- Before any new queens emerge, the existing queen and about half of the bees in the colony leave the hive, searching for another home
- The first queen in the old hive will hatch and make sure she becomes the only adult queen
- The remaining bees consider her their new queen
- We now have two colonies, each approximately half the size of the original one, living in different locations
Swarming to Reproduce
What Happens During a Swarm
The Decision to Swarm
Preparation for Swarming
The Swarming Event
- Leave the hive and temporarily move to an interim location. In what is one of nature’s more dramatic events, tens of thousands of bees will stream out of the hive together. They will choose a nearby location as an interim place to rest, keeping in mind that the queen isn’t a great flyer at this point. This initial stop might well be within a stones throw of the original hive.
- Scout the nearby area for permanent locations. With the swarm clustering around the queen at the interim location, scout bees will start checking the area for suitable final locations. At this point some magic happens, including a remarkable form of debate and voting among the scout bees. This is described in glorious detail in the beautiful and iconic book Bee Democracy by Thomas D Seeley.
- Move to the final location. With that decision made, democratically, the swarm will fly off to the chosen location and begin its life in their new home.
The group of bees swarming is called the prime swarm. Back at the original hive, the first queen will soon emerge from her queen cup. She will hunt down her as-yet-unborn sister queens and kill them while they remain in their queen cups. She will be helped by worker bees who help clear the wax capping, so she has access for the killing. Once she has completed that process, she now becomes the queen of the initial hive.
Usually…
At this point, there is another direction the colony can take. The new virgin queen and workers may ALSO swarm, again with a significant number of bees from the colony, though smaller than the original swarm. This secondary event is called an after swarm. In rare cases, the process may occur again and again – multiple after swarms – until the hive is depleted.
The Beekeepers View
Watching for Signs of Swarming
The underlying conditions are the first sign of a potential swarm. If your bees are expanding rapidly, are in full-blown brood-rearing mode and storing large amounts of honey, you should be carefully monitoring the use of frames within the hive.
It is your role to watch for these signs and take early, proactive action to avoid swarming.
A Source of Bees
Swarming is not bad! As a beekeeper, a swarm can be an excellent source of bees when looking to establish a new hive. Catching a swarm is one of beekeeping’s most exciting and satisfying steps and it is important for the beekeeper to realize the opportunity here.
Catching a swarm is not quite as scary as it might seem at first. However, PerfectBee doesn’t recommend this as a source of bees of the first time beekeeper, but as you gain experience it’s a very viable option.
For the layman, a swarm of bees is sometimes a terrifying thought, even though that concern is generally overstated. Around the country, beekeepers promote “swarm catching” services. Given that the end result may be a new colony – for free or even for a small profit – it’s something of a win-win, when done for the right reasons.