HIVING A SWARM
As discussed in April, bees swarm in the spring as the population in the hive increases and conditions start getting crowded. About half the bees in the hive leave with the queen on a one way trip to find a new home thereby establishing a new colony. The colony from which the swarm came raises a new queen with the help of queen cells started before the swarm left the hive. The Lilac tree above is a temporary resting place where the bees cluster while looking for a permanent new home.

• Six photos tell the story. The first step is to place a box with frames of honey directly under the cluster followed by abruptly shaking the branch dislodging the bees to fall into the hive box. This was a huge swarm that easily overflowed the box. After a little time, the lid was put on so the stragglers could still get in. A few puffs of smoke encourage the remaining bees into the box. The box and bees are left undisturbed until dark and then moved to a new location.
• A swarm of bees to the uninitiated is a scary sight, but swarm bees are usually not interested in stinging because they have no hive to protect and as long as they aren't physically abused (mashed) swarming bees rarely sting. Beekeepers sometimes hive swarms without wearing any protective gear. Gentle swarms are the norm.
• But there's also the exception. Personally, I'm a wimp when it comes to handling bees without suiting up. The reality is that on any given day, you just don't know whether you're in for the norm or the exception - until it's too late. Bees, like people, have bad days and it's no fun having them take it out on you. On a few occasions, I've had the experience of explaining to people why my eye is swollen shut from a bee sting - I can't decide which is worse - that or just the discomfort. We have this protective stuff for a reason so my advice is - use it!

THE SWARM PROCESS- START TO FINISH:

1. In the early spring, (March here in Idaho) the bees start raising Drones (male bees) which have not been present in the hive all winter. Since the male bees contribute nothing to the survival of the hive over the winter, they are expelled by the worker bees in early fall to starve and die outside of the hive.
2. As the bee population increases in late March and April worker bees start building "queen cups" on the bottom of the brood frames. As shown, these form the beginning of what will eventually be a queen cell. This is the first step in preparation for ensuring a replacement queen when the swarm leaves.
3. As the weather gets warmer, the honey from the spring flowers comes in, the hive gets more crowded and the bees decide it's time - the queen will lay eggs in most or all of the queen cups. Once the eggs are laid, the queen cells will be nursed by the workers and grow to hatch new virgin queens in about 12 days. Photos at right show queen cell development. Once eggs are laid in the queen cups, the swarm will usually depart the hive during this 12 day period.
4. Bees usually swarm on a sunny warm day. On the big day, swarm bees start clustering outside the hive in late morning. In the heat of the afternoon, the queen emerges and starts her flight while the swarm of bees follow. It's an amazing sight to see - it looks like a big black cloud moving through the air!
5. This is the first of two moves the swarm will make. They don't go very far from the hive on this flight - usually only a few hundred yards before they light on a tree or fence post or other spot out in the open (above). The cluster will hang (literally) at this chosen spot for a few hours to several days until they find a new home. While the swarm waits, scout bees search the area up to a mile away looking for a cavity of some sort with a small entrance the bees can protect for their new home. It could be a hollowed out tree, a wall in a house or other enclosure with a restricted entrance from which the bees can come and go.
6. Once the scout bees find the right home, they communicate the location to the others by a waggle dance conveying distance and direction to the other bees. Waggle dance communication goes on all the time in the hive but watching a swarm while it hangs on a limb is a rare opportunity to see it with an unobstructed view.
7. When the scouts have located the new home, the swarm makes the final flight to their new location where they immediately start setting up by building beeswax comb, gathering honey followed by the queen laying her eggs to produce future workers to grow the colony.
8. Meanwhile, back at the original hive jealous new queens are emerging from the queen cells. Queen bees will not tolerate another queen in the hive, so something has to give. The queens may fight it out until there's only one left - natures selection process at work. Often, one queen hatches prior to the others, providing the first with the opportunity kill the others before they emerge. Queens, unlike worker bees do not lose their stingers when they sting and this "multi-use" stinger is for just this purpose. On other occasions, one or more of the virgin queens will depart the hive in a secondary swarm to establish yet another new colony