Swarms, step by step
Interactive lesson: recognise and prevent swarming, make an artificial swarm, catch and hive a swarm safely and introduce a queen.
Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the Swarms module. Already bought? Unlock
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The whole lesson as text
1. Why bees swarm
The old queen leaves the hive with half the bees, and a young queen stays behind in a queen cell.
- A crowded brood nest — The queen has nowhere to lay and the young bees have no work. Colonies with an old queen swarm more often too.
- Cups on the comb edge — Before swarming the bees build queen cups on the bottom edges of the combs. When the queen lays in them, they become queen cells.
- When the swarm leaves — Usually when the first queen cell is capped, on a fine day between 10 am and 3 pm. Casts, second and third swarms, can follow.
- Three kinds of queen cell — Swarm cells are on the comb edges, 5–20 or more. Supersedure: 1–3 in the middle of the comb, leave them. Emergency cells appear when the queen is lost.
Why: For the colony it's a success, for the beekeeper a loss: half the foragers leave just before the main flow. Swarm season is May–June, from late April in the south and into July in the north.
- When you find queen cells, first check for eggs. Eggs and cells on the edges: swarming impulse. No eggs and cells in the middle: the queen is gone.
- A fine water spray makes flying harder, so the swarm settles low and is caught sooner.
2. Prevention
Swarm prevention starts in April, not when the queen cells are capped.
- Space in time — Add a frame or a box as soon as the bees cover all the frames. Put the super on before the main flow.
- Work for young bees — In April and May give 2–3 frames of foundation at each inspection. A colony drawing comb swarms less.
- A young queen — Replace a queen older than two years. A colony headed by last year's queen rarely swarms.
- Inspect every 7–9 days — From early May to the end of June tip up the top box and look at the bottom edges of the frames from below. That's where queen cells usually are.
Why: Breaking down queen cells doesn't stop a swarm: the colony builds new ones in a few days, and if you miss just one, the swarm goes. The swarming impulse only ends when you split the colony.
- In summer give shade at midday, an open entrance and ventilation in the roof.
- In a hive with two brood boxes (or brood and a half) a quick check takes two minutes.
3. The artificial swarm · Locked
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4. Catching a swarm · Locked
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5. Hiving the swarm · Locked
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6. The queen and expansion · Locked
Buy the Swarms module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.