What is a bee swarm anyway?
Have you noticed the feeling of spring in the air? So have the honey bees! This winter has been especially warm, which means bees have been more active than usual. The warmth of spring signals to bees that it is time for them to reproduce!
When it's time for bees to reproduce, the colony divides itself to allow for growth. Since two colonies can't live in the same hive, the queen bee takes half of the worker bees to find a new home while the other colony stays behind to raise a new queen. This colony migration is what creates a swarm.
Swarms are usually calm — the bees are focused on finding a new home, not defending one, so they’re unlikely to sting. Before leaving the hive they gorge on honey, which also makes stinging difficult. Don’t disturb a swarm, but know they’re on a mission of peace, not looking for trouble.
When a hive swarms, the departure is pretty impressive. The bees cluster around the front of the hive before they fly off in a massive cloud (swarm). They go find somewhere safe to (literally) hang out for a while.
While the swarm is in a safe spot, the bees send out scouts to find their new home which takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days. What are the scouts looking for? A relatively large, dry pocket of space. In nature this is usually a hollow tree or the roof of a small cave. In human modified areas, it can be the walls of a building, if there is a hole that lets the bees into it. Once all of the scouts have agreed on a final home, the swarm lifts off again, flies to the new location, and starts to build a new hive.
Of course, we prefer bees to build their homes in places where they are convenient to people. Meaning, a managed hive. Managed hives are also much less likely to swarm than feral ones, since there are lots of things that beekeepers can do to prevent their hives from swarming.
Thankfully, when swarms happen, they are easy to catch and transfer to a hive, as long as they are accessible.
Read more here to learn what to do if a bee swarm is in your neighborhood.
Just like the bees are experiencing, we are wishing you a spring full of renewed energy and growth!