It's important for a beekeeper to really understand why bees swarm

Claire Waring describes the swarming process and the reasons for beekeepers to be able to control it

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I remember the first time I saw a queen cell in one of my colonies. It sent me into a minor panic, mainly because I hadn't finished the hive I was making at woodwork classes. I completed my inspection and was soon finishing off the roof. Phew! Actually, I needn’t have panicked quite as much because the presence of a queen cell (in the early stages of development) did not mean the swarm was about to leave and fly away. However, what it did teach me was that I needed to be prepared in advance for something I knew was very likely to happen. I had to make sure I had sufficient equipment to deal with swarming preparations by each and every colony. Subsequently I learnt that there are strains of bees that do not swarm invariably but I still needed to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

SO, WHY DO BEES SWARM?

Honey bees are social insects. This means numbers live together as a colony and perform certain tasks that enable that colony to thrive. Bees as individuals undertake functions necessary for their survival, such as eating and drinking. However, the colony can also be regarded as an organism - what is known as a 'superorganism'. Within the colony, we know that the queen is the only one that can lay fertilised eggs, producing worker bees. These females form the bulk of the colony and are adapted to perform the various tasks such as feeding the brood and the queen, cleaning the hive, guarding the entrance and foraging for pollen and nectar, which they turn into honey. The drones come from unfertilised eggs and mate with virgin queens. Thus all the functions normally found in individual animals can be attributed to the colony.