Tickner Edwardes in The Lore of the Honey-Bee, calls a swarm “one short hour of joyousness and madcap frolic after a lifetime of order, commendable toil, chill and maidenly propriety”.
Why bees swarm is still more guesswork than science. But the principle reason seems to be based on a need to preserve hive health and to federate the colony. Swarms typically occur in the spring and happen suddenly, as we now know. The bees that leave the colony take off with the old queen. In the remaining hive a new queen cell is being produced. The bees, when they realize they are overcrowded begin to slow down brood production and begin to pack-up to leave by eating surplus honey.
Scout bees begin to fan out in the neighborhood looking for an acceptable site. When all the environmental factors are ripe the signal is sent and they all take off; leaving half the hive behind, the new pioneers settle on a branch or on a building. This is where we found them last week, in a pear tree.
Once they are out of the hive and bunched the scouts come back to the swarm and try and convince the others that their location is best. Bees fly off and visit the prospective homes. Basically the home that attracts the most visitors wins in a sort of bee democracy. At that point the rest of the swarm moves to the new home.
That decision could take hours or as much as a week. Our swarm was still in the pear tree on Sunday evening and unlikely to move during the chill of the night. Monday morning, while still dark, we suited up in our bee suits. Using flashlights and a tree saw we made preparations to capture the swarm. Cindy held the branch from just above and below the swarm while I sawed.
Once the branch was cut Cindy handed the swarm to me. We had a hive body (bee box) positioned on the ground with a piece of plywood underneath and a window screen to cover. Holding the branch I gave it a firm shake and promptly 90% of the bees fell into the box. After a moment we put the screen on top with a bottle of sugar water for food and then we both left for work.
We were still short a number of items that would allow us to set up a new hive: namely new frames to hold the hive. Cindy stopped after work at the farmer’s co-op for the supplies needed. We spent a couple of hours assembling the frames. Once they were complete back on went the bee suits and out we went. I picked up the box of bees and moved it to the new location. Using the smoker to quiet them I then took off the screen. Cindy began to move the frames into place.
Imagine a box that seems to be 50% full of bees. Now imagine squeezing ten frames in that box so that they sit side by side into that swarming mass. Can’t be done, right? Actually it went smoothly. As Cindy eased the frames into place the bees either moved out of the way or got to work building a new home on each frame. By the time the tenth frame was slid in the box the bees were home. A number of bees were still outside the new hive and were bunched up against the wall. They gradually began entering through the front door.
One day after the swarm we now had a third hive with free bees. We plan on keeping a spare hive body and frames for future swarms.
