Swarming of Bees

the natural multiplication of colonies of honey bees and other species of social bees.

In swarming, the bees of the swarming colony hurriedly leave the hive, fly up into the air with a queen who has joined them, circle around for some time, and “establish” themselves (cluster together) somewhere on the branch of a tree. The clustering swarm hangs there for a while, then flies away, usually to another location, and establishes a new nest (under natural conditions, in the hollows of trees, clefts in rocks, and other shelters). The natural swarming of bees is observed in the first half of summer, when the bee colony has the most brood and an excess of young nurse bees. Several swarms may separate from a single colony; however, in bee farms efforts are taken to prevent this, because the mother colony is thus weakened and the swarms also become weak and nonviable, and the production of the bee colonies is decreased.

Measures are taken to prevent swarming (the work of the bee colony is organized so that the bees are maximally burdened with the work of nursing the brood, constructing honeycomb, and gathering honey), or individual hives or a number of them may be artificially divided in half. This makes it possible to regulate the periods of colony formation and the colony’s strength and improves conditions for the bees to rear their brood and gather honey.