Swarming
The springtime is the time when honeybees reproduce. The natural means of reproduction for honey bees is called swarming. The springtime swarming period typically last about three weeks. Normally a single swarm of honey bees divide and becomes two during the swarming period.
Because swarming typically means a loss of production so beekeepers try to discourage the behavior. One way that beekeepers eliminate swarming in their hives is by purchasing new bees each spring to replace their previous bees that they turned out of the hives the previous fall. Another method commonly used by beekeepers to discourage swarming is the creation of a starter colony. Creating a starter hive and then splitting it encourages bees to stay in their hives. Some beekeepers believe that bees only swarm when they have an abundance of food in the hive. Beekeepers who subscribe to this theory use a method called checker boarding to discourage their bees from swarming. When a beekeeper checkerboards their hives they remove some of the full frames of honey, giving the bees the illusion that they don't have any honey in reserve, and therefore discouraging the bees from swarming.
It is unusual for a bees to swarm when there is a new queen in the bee hive. As time passes and the Queen ages is when the hive typically prepares to swarm, generally the elderly queen leaves with the primary swarm, leaving a virgin queen in her place. When the elderly queen is getting ready to swarm with the primary swarm she stops laying eggs. She concentrates on getting fit enough to fly when she leaves the hive (the only other time the queen has flown is when she went out on her nuptial flight). When smaller swarms leave the hive they are commonly accompanied by the virgin queen.
When they first leave the hive in a swarm, bees don't typically go far from the hive they have always known. After fleeing the nest the bees settle on a nearby tree branch or under an eave. The worker bees cluster around the queen, protecting her. Once they have the queen protected, some bees, scouts, look around until they find a suitable hive to turn into their new home.
Some beekeepers see swarming as a way to restock their hives. An experienced bee keeper has no problem capturing a group of swarming bees. Beekeepers use a device to called a Nasrove Pheromone to lure swarming honey bees.
When they swarm, honey bees carry no additional food with them. The only honey they are allowed to take from the parent hive is the honey they consumed.
Although honey bees normally swarm only during the spring the same is not true of Africanized Bees, also called Killer Bees. The Africanized Bees swarm whenever they have a difficult time finding food.
Although they typically don't go after people when they are swarming, their is something about the site of a swarm of bees that scares people. It is not unusual for a beekeeper to be called out to capture a colony of swarming bees.
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Transferring Your Bees to Their New Home You've done your beekeeping homework. You've chosen a site for your beehive where ...
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Acquiring the Bees As long as you aren't allergic to bee stings beekeeping is a way for someone who doesn't ...
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Beekeeping and the Apple Orchards The country is full of apple orchards. Apple orchards are where the apples you buy ...
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Beekeeping Equipment Like all hobbies, beekeeping requires some basic equipment before someone can establish a successful hive. This equipment should ...
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Beekeeping in different areas of the world Many areas in the world are producers of honey and beeswax for medicinal ...
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California's Almond Orchards The California almond industry is attracting the interest of beekeepers all over the country. The almond orchard's ...
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Curbside Honey Sales The roadside stand is as common a site in rural America as the lemonade stand is in ...
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Family owned beekeeping companies Beekeeping isn't just something you go into it's something you're raised and brought up in. Most ...
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Harvesting the Honey Obviously the whole reason to set up, maintain, and stock a beehive is to harvest honey. You ...
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History of Beekeeping Beekeeping is one of the oldest forms of food production dating back as far back as 13,000 ...
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Honey Honey bees spend their entire life pollinating flowers and making honey. Bees use pollen that they gather from flowers ...
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How to Make a Honey Extractor In order to get honey from your beehive you have to be able to ...
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How to market your honey Marketing honey in today's market is going to pose a bit of a challenge since ...
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Packaging Your Honey Large beekeepers can not turn a profit if they limit their market to their local community. Beekeepers ...
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Processing Raw Honey After the beekeeper collects the honey it's processed immediately after harvesting because it crystallizes when it's allowed ...
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Selling Honey to a Local Market One of the reasons people become involved with beekeeping is so that they can ...
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Starting your own beekeeping business Starting a beekeeping business may sound exciting and fun, but in all reality it's a ...
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Swarming The springtime is the time when honeybees reproduce. The natural means of reproduction for honey bees is called swarming. ...
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The Biology of Bees There's approximately 20,000 species of bees throughout the world making them the interest of beekeepers who ...
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The History of Beekeeping No one really knows when the first time someone thought about collecting the honey from hives. ...
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The Life Cycle of the Honey Bee A beekeeper, whether a casual hobbyist or a large commercial producer, can not ...
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The Queen Bee The survival of a colony of bees living in a bee hive depends on the queen bee. ...
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The Science and Technology of Beekeeping Modern science has allowed us to cultivate a food product that works much better ...
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The things a beekeeper uses When beekeepers go to work they have essential tools needed to keep themselves safe because ...
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Training to be a Beekeeper Training to be a beekeeper is a time consuming skill that many take seriously because ...
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Disclaimer
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site is a common sense guide to Swarming. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
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Transferring Your Bees to Their New Home
Acquiring the Bees
Beekeeping and the Apple Orchards
Beekeeping Equipment
Beekeeping in different areas of the world
California's Almond Orchards
Curbside Honey Sales
Family owned beekeeping companies
Harvesting the Honey
History of Beekeeping
Honey
How to Make a Honey Extractor
How to market your honey
Packaging Your Honey
Processing Raw Honey
Selling Honey to a Local Market
Starting your own beekeeping business
Swarming
The Biology of Bees
The History of Beekeeping
The Life Cycle of the Honey Bee
The Queen Bee
The Science and Technology of Beekeeping
The things a beekeeper uses
Training to be a Beekeeper
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