Swarming (honeybee)

New honeybee colonies are formed when queen bees leave the colony with a large group of worker bees, a process called "swarming." The first or prime swarm generally goes with the old queen. As soon as the swarm is established as a new colony, the bees raise a new queen, or sometimes a replacement virgin queen is already present in the swarm. Afterswarms are usually smaller and are accompanied by one or more virgin queens. Sometimes a beehive will swarm in succession until it is almost totally depleted of workers.

Swarms of bees sometimes frighten people, though they are usually not aggressive at this stage of their life cycle. Most swarms will move on and find a suitable nesting location in a day or two. Beekeepers are sometimes called to capture swarms.

Swarm Management

During the first year of a queen's life the colony has little incentive to swarm, unless the hive is very crowded. During her second spring, however, she seems to be programmed to swarm. Without beekeeper "swarm management" in the second year, the hive will cast a "prime swarm" and one to five "after swarms." The old queen will go with the prime swarm, and others will be accompanied by virgins.

Swarming is to the beekeeper what losing all of his calves is to a cattleman. The hive that cast the swarm is often so badly depleted that it will be unproductive for the entire season. For this reason, beekeepers try to anticipate swarming and assist the bees to reproduce in a more controlled fashion by "splitting hives" or making "nucs." This saves the "calves" and keeps the "cow" in condition to accomplish some work.

Swarming location

When honeybees swarm from the hive they do not fly far at first. They may gather in a tree or on a branch only a few meters from the hive. There, they cluster about the queen and send scout bees out to find a final location. The swarm may fly for a kilometer or more to the scouted out location. When the swarm first forms a cluster it is relative easy to capture the swarm in a suitable box. There are also swarm traps with pheromone lures that can be used to attract swarms.

For more information on the bio-chemical factors that govern swarming, see apis newsletter July 2003.