Swarm
Lexikon
Swarming is the natural reproduction of the honey bee colony.
Swarming is the natural reproduction of the honey bee colony. In spring the colony grows strongly, and when space, a surplus of nurse bees, and weather come together, the worker bees build queen cells and the queen lays eggs in them. As soon as the first of these queen cells is capped, the old, mated queen leaves with a large part of the bees. This first swarm is called the prime swarm. It usually gathers as a cluster on a branch or fence post and moves on from there to its new home.
The old colony stays behind in the hive with the brood, the queen cells, and the younger bees. Because a young queen there first has to hatch, mate, and come into lay, a broodless phase of several weeks results. This pause slows the varroa mite and is a good time for a treatment as well as for renewing the comb. It makes sense to check the swarmed colony only about three weeks after the swarm has left; before that the brood pattern says nothing yet.
For the beekeeper, though, an unnoticed swarm is still a problem. Without varroa treatment, a colony living wild is not viable in the long run; undetected swarms can spread diseases such as American foulbrood and bring mites back, the swarmed colony produces noticeably less honey, and rearing the young queen keeps losing one now and then. On top of that comes trouble with the neighbors.
Prevention is achieved through timely expansion, young queens, swarm-sluggish bee stock, and early formation of nucleus colonies. Once the swarming drive has already broken out, only regular breaking of queen cells at intervals of seven to nine days, or a swarm pre-emption in which the beekeeper divides the colony himself, still help.