The Swarming of Honeybees

Well, honeybees are a superorganism and to reproduce, they split the colony in half (much like a cell!) When the colony lacks space to grow, it can start to feel congested. When this happens, the bees prepare themselves to swarm. The existing queen will leave the hive with about half of its original population to thrive elsewhere, leaving the other half to continue on in the hive. The traveling half will then settle in temporary stop locations (a branch, street light, neighbor’s eavestrough or lawn, etc.) while they’re on the lookout for the perfect permanent spot to make their new home.

Before leaving the hive, the departing colony will want to ensure that the remaining one can survive and thus starts the process of raising a new queen, who will emerge shortly after the colony has swarmed. This is usually how we know when a colony is ready to be divided – by spotting queen cells appearing on brood frames! We always preventively split the colonies before the summer boom to quell the colony’s instinct to divide themselves so they feel like they have done their natural duty, while we can control the results and find the new colony a safe urban home to thrive into – namely an empty hive!

While we work hard to do everything to avoid a swarming hive, nature sometimes has a mind of its own. This remains rare, but if you do see a swarm near one of our hive locations, do not panic – we’re equipped to retrieve them! Bees in this state are not at all dangerous, as you can see in the capsule below, but we’ll try to come onsite to retrieve them as quickly as possible. However, we do not retrieve swarms that are not part of the big Alvéole family – but many local beekeeping associations do! Swarms do not stay long – they usually take off after 1 to 3 days.