In the spring, with the bursting efflorescence, the foraging worker bees transport profuse amounts of nectar and pollen to their hive, where the queen (mother) of the hive ramps up the laying process, reaching up to 1500-2000 eggs per day. The surge in population is

dramatic, and the nurse bees that accompany, feed and care for the queen increase to 20 or more in number. If further space is not created in the hive in time by adding honeycombs and a ‘floor’, the ‘storing’ bees will be challenged to find space within the honeycombs to store honey and pollen; in addition, there will not be enough space for the queen bee to deposit her eggs.

When there is overcrowding and overheating in the hive due to overpopulation, and the honeycombs are brimming with honey and laden with pollen, and the hive is filled with capped brood (pupae sealed in the cells) from which young bees shall soon emerge, the colony prepares to journey.

The phenomenon of preparation and the final exodus from the beehive of the greater part of the hive population in quest of a new home is called ‘swarming’.

Apart from the dearth of space and overheating that generally occasion swarming, other conditions may play a role, such as: the age of the queen bee—an aging queen produces fewer cohesion pheromones for the colony; genetics, as some colonies are more prone to wander and thus tend to swarm more often; an abundance of blossoms or a more favourable florescence (when it comes to sage or orange blossoms, it is said that the bees become ‘intoxicated’ by them); and, finally, the temperature of the environment plays a role, warmer temperatures being more conducive to swarming.

Honey bees initially construct bases for the queen cells at different points of the honeycomb. The queen bee, due to a general lack of space, at some point lays eggs, and the nurse bees enlarge the cell walls of these same cells, supplying the larvae of the future queens with profuse quantities of royal jelly. The cells now become the queen cells of the colony and the countdown to the complete expression of the phenomenon begins.

The nurse bees thereafter commence the ‘bullying’ of their queen, cutting off her food supply and general care, ill-treating her so that she loses weight and is thus able to fly off. The egg-laying of the queen is interrupted, the pace of work in the hive drops, a multitude of bees remain idle and a number of forager bees become scouts in search of a new home. When the first queen cell of the colony is sealed, or ‘capped’, the colony is ready to depart.

How does this phenomenon manifest in the apiary? A large part of the colony population, carried away by the dances of the scout bees (yes, honey bees do, in fact, dance!), with a characteristic buzzing sound, “whirl” directly outside the entrance to the hive; then, dragging the queen bee with them, they fly about in the vicinity of the hive until a temporary spot is found, to form what is called a ‘cluster’.

In the coming days, in one of the queen bee cells in the mother-hive (source hive) of the colony, the first virgin queen will hatch, and perhaps kill her remaining sisters in their cells and thus take over as head of the colony. If two or more queens emerge at the same time, they fight until one prevails. It may ensue that the colony will allow other virgin queens to hatch, in the event of which each one (or even together with two or more, at times) will join the remaining population of the hive and subsequently leave; the phenomenon of swarming is thus repeated. These smaller swarms are called ‘after swarms’, or ‘secondary swarms’, and in each new swarm only one virgin queen will eventually prevail.

During swarming, the beekeeper loses the greater part of the working population of honey bees (between 50 and 90 per cent), as well as a large part of the swarm’s provisions, as copious amounts of honey are consumed prior to the bees’ departure. A beekeeper is also inclined to lose their patience when beholding the bees suspended from the branches of trees, lazing about rather than working hard in the hives.