Most people seem to fear honeybee swarms. Maybe if I wasn't educated about honeybees, I could understand how a cloud of thousands of stinging insects might be a bit daunting. Once you understand what a swarm really is, you might want to stick around and watch them in action.
A swarm is a honeybee colony's way of expanding. In the springtime, in a healthy colony, the queen has exponentially ramped up her egg laying to build up the colony's foraging force to gather resources. The hive fills to capacity with worker bees and brood (eggs, larva and pupa). As the dandelions begin to bloom, the colony commences swarm preparations. The colony size has outgrown its hive (a feral colony would take up residence in a cavity like a dead hollow tree or the soffit in someone's home). As the queen fills the majority of the cells inside the hive with eggs, and the forager bees fill other cells with nectar from the new blooms, the worker bees send signals that it's time to find a new home.
One of the first signals of swarm preparation to a beekeeper is "backfilling." A cell from which a pupa emerges is backfilled with nectar, limiting the cells wherein a queen can deposit an egg. Backfilling ostensibly makes the queen lethargic as she's unable to lay the thousands of eggs daily that she's become accustomed to in the onset of spring.
Additionally, the worker bees start rearing new queens in the hive. Even though there is already a queen, when the hive starts getting too full, the workers prepare queen cells at the bottom edges of the frames in the hive because they know its time to swarm. The current queen deposits eggs into these queen cells or a worker will transfer an egg from a cell on the face of the frame into a queen cell. These eggs turn into larva in about 3-4 days and the long, peanut shaped queen cell is capped at which point the larva starts pupating. It's at this time, when there are multiple capped queen cells in the springtime, that peak conditions are set for swarming.
A swarm pours out of a hive. I stood in the middle as thousands of honeybees harmlessly flew around me.
Prior to the new queens emerging, the colony prepares for flight. The current queen and half the colony gorge on honey or nectar and unanimously take flight from the hive in search of a new cavity to call home. Half the colony is left behind as the new queens emerge. (Stay tuned for my next blog explaining the emergence of these multiple queens and their battle to become the monarch).
The swarm that issues from the hive usually consists of the queen (that has usually lived through the winter), and 90% female worker bees and 10% male drones. The swarm will pour from the hive like a waterfall and settle about 25-50 feet away from the hive, often in a nearby tree. In my apiary, the swarms usually land on a bench near my hives which makes them easy to collect.
At their new location, scout bees - female workers of foraging age (about 20 days old) - will fly off in several directions in search of a reasonably clean, spacious new cavity to call home. Finding a new home can take anywhere from 1-3 days depending on the weather, the size of the swarm, and the surroundings. After some time spent searching the surrounding neighborhood for potential cavities, the scout bees return to the cluster and do a waggle dance which conveys the quality and distance of the new cavity they might have found. At some point, miraculously, the plethora of scout bees come to a consensus about which scout found the best new home and as if on cue, the queen and the scouts lead the way for the cluster to their new nest.
A swarm settles down on a nearby bench. Scout bees will search from this temporary location for a new home.
The biggest misconception about swarms is that they are dangerous and ready to attack. The truth is - a honeybee swarm is not defensive because they have nothing to protect - no honey, no brood, no home. The docile swarm is often easily collected in the right conditions and a person can stick their hand in a swarm and not get stung. Unlike wasps and hornets, a cluster of honeybees is really peaceful and pleasant to watch. No matter how much your imagination might run away with itself, the swarm typically has no plans to attack or approach you unless it's been provoked. I've stood in the middle of a swarm unprotected as it issued from its hive and watched it settle on the nearby bench.
The most unique swarm I've captured had settled underneath the seat of an abandoned bicycle in town. This was one of the easiest captures too - I merely had to unlock the bike seat, remove it from the bike and knock the seat into a hive box. The cluster fell into the box all at once. The key to getting a swarm into a new box is to find the queen and place her in the box - then the rest of the bees - thousands - march into the box on their own, following the pheromone scent of their queen.
I once caught a swarm on Jeweler's Row, gathered on the branch of a small arbor vitae on the sidewalk. By the time I arrived to collect it, a large crowd of spectators had gathered. The UPS carriers sitting on the back of their truck applauded as I simply sheared off the branch with the bees, placed it in a large plastic bin, and drove off to transfer the bees to a hive in my apiary. I imagine the show was a bit anticlimactic. Next time I'll have to include more theatrics.
A swarm follows the scent of its queen and marches into the hive box.
To clarify, a swarm is usually a huge cluster of honeybees, anywhere from 3,000-30,000 depending on the original size of the colony. If you spot a few bees at your bird feeder, or even dozens in your garden, this is not a swarm - these bees are most likely gathering some much need water, nectar or seed dust, and will soon be on their way to bring their foraged resources back to their colony.
If you see a swarm, there's no need to fear. Usually a swarm leaves within a few days to find its new home, but you'll want to call a beekeeper before they take flight. There is no need to spray or otherwise harm a honeybee swarm. Witnessing a honeybee swarm is a rare opportunity – call a beekeeper, sit back and enjoy the show.
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