Swarms are the normal, natural and healthy reproduction of a honey bee colony.
They are colony-level reproduction vs individual honey bee. It’s an important part
of the colony life cycle and it’s how honey bees procreate.

Swarm Biology

In early spring, a healthy hive begins to bring in nectar and pollen to fill the
comb to feed brood. As space in the hive begins to become limited the queen’s pheromone levels drop which signals the swarm process. A lot has to happen in the hive however, before it can swarm.

The current queen loses weight so she can fly, egg laying is reduced, worker bees begin gorging themselves on honey and their wax glands prepare to produce the new comb that will be needed in their new home (hive). The entire hive slows down while it focuses on queen rearing and swarm preparation.

Once the queen lays an egg in a queen cup (now called a queen CELL or SWARM
CELL) and the cell is capped (approximately 11 days) the hive will swarm, it’s just a matter of when. When one of the new queens is ready to emerge (although it could occur sooner) the old queen will leave the hive along with about 1/2 bees. It is important to be proactive to prevent swarming because once the process starts it is very difficult to stop.

Hive Management and The Swarm

Good swarm management will allow beekeepers to have strong productive colonies throughout the season. In order to manage swarms, you need to understand them.
It is important to remember that swarm management happens BEFORE the
swarming behavior starts. As already mentioned, once the process has begun, it
is very difficult to stop. There are three main reasons bees swarm: reproduction, congestion and old or failing queen.

Reproduction and Proactive Steps

Honey bees, along with all living organisms, want to reproduce and procreate. Honey bees tend to swarm in the spring, just before the nectar flow. Since new colonies need to build comb, collect and store resources (nectar and pollen) and build the colony
strength before fall and winter, timing is critical. Therefore as beekeepers, we know we need to watch for signs of swarming two to four week before the main nectar flow is on.

Manually split the hive. Remove 3 to 4 frames of brood with eggs along with plenty of nurse bees and place them in another hive, before the colony prepares to swarm. Splitting the hive manually fools the hive to believing it has already swarmed and keeps queen pheromones strong in the parent hive. NOTE: you will need to place a mated queen in the now queenless hive you just created or wait to see if they create a new queen.

Equalize hives. Remove full frames of brood and place them in a weaker hive. This strengthens weaker hives and reduces the swarming tendency in stronger hives.

Replace older queens. Remove older queens and add young mated queens in late fall or early spring. Younger queens have stronger pheromones reducing the tendency to swarm.

Congestion and Proactive Steps

Its all about pheromones! When your hive becomes overcrowded the queen pheromones does not reach all of the bees in the hive which signals the production of swarm cells. You will notice an overcrowded hive by the shear number of bees in your hive and by looking deep into the brood nest. Brood frames will have signs of back-filling and/or frames will be wall to wall brood.

Back-filling and full frames of brood are sure signs your hive will be preparing to
swarm soon and its time to take action. Back-filling is a term used when the bees begin placing nectar and pollen in the brood nest. Bees only want to put resources ABOVE the brood nest. When you begin to see the bees placing nectar and pollen in the middle of the brood nest, you know they are competing for space, and your hive has become overcrowded. Full frames of capped and uncapped brood is another signal that your bees are growing rapidly and you need to add more space soon or your bees will swarm.

Add Box(es) – Add one or more boxes on top of the hive to give bees more space to expand.

Manually split the hive. Remove 3 to 4 frames of brood with eggs along with plenty of nurse bees and place them in another hive, before the colony prepares to swarm. Splitting the hive manually fools the hive to believing it has already swarmed and keeps queen pheromones strong in the parent hive. NOTE: you will need to place a mated queen in the now queenless hive you just created or wait to see if they create a new queen.

Equalize hives. Remove full frames of brood and place them in a weaker hive. This strengthens weaker hives and reduces the swarming tendency in stronger hives.

Watch your hives closely in the early spring, learn phrenology charts for your area to help you predict the nectar flow, and watch for overcrowding. If you know your queen is getting old or not producing as she should, replace her and keep your hives productive and focused on collecting nectar and pollen and NOT on the need to create new queens.