Swarm Control Methods

Swarming is natural bee reproduction—a healthy colony splits, with the old queen leaving with half the workers. But for beekeepers, it means losing bees and honey production. Here's how to manage swarming.

Why Bees Swarm

Understanding swarm triggers helps with prevention:

• Congestion: Running out of space
• Queen pheromone dilution: In large colonies, pheromones don't reach all bees
• Season: Spring buildup triggers reproductive instinct
• Age of queen: Colonies more likely to swarm with older queens
• Genetics: Some lines swarm more than others

Recognizing Swarm Preparation

Signs your bees are planning to swarm:

• Queen cells: Especially on frame bottoms (swarm cells)
• Congestion: Bees "bearding" on hive front
• Reduced foraging: Scout bees looking for new home instead
• Queen slimming: Workers reduce queen's feeding so she can fly
• Backfilling: Nectar stored where brood should be

Prevention Strategies

1. Provide Adequate Space

The simplest prevention: give bees room before they need it.

• Add supers early, before nectar flow peaks
• Remove filled honey supers promptly
• Ensure adequate brood space

2. Young Queens

Colonies with first-year queens swarm much less frequently. Requeening annually or biennially reduces swarming.

3. Rotate Brood Comb

Move empty frames into the brood nest, giving the queen room to lay. Move full brood frames to the edges.

The Demaree Method

A classic technique that satisfies bees' swarming urge without losing them:

1. Find the queen and confine her to the bottom box with one frame of brood
2. Add queen excluder above the bottom box
3. Add empty super(s) above excluder
4. Place remaining brood in a box on top
5. Destroy queen cells in the top box (check weekly)

Why it works: The queen has laying room, nurse bees move up to tend separated brood, and foragers still return to the original location.

Making Splits

Splitting colonies preemptively prevents swarming while increasing your apiary:

Walk-Away Split

1. Move half of frames (including brood with eggs) to new box
2. Move new box to new location
3. Queenless half will raise new queen

Managed Split

1. Find and isolate queen in one box
2. Give other box a purchased queen or ripe queen cell
3. Both colonies productive faster

Artificial Swarm

When you find swarm cells, simulate swarming without losing bees:

1. Move old hive to new location
2. Place new hive on old stand with queen and one frame of brood
3. Foragers return to old location, join queen
4. Old hive (now in new spot) raises new queen from cells

What NOT to Do

• Don't just destroy queen cells: They'll build more, swarm anyway
• Don't add space too late: Committed colonies swarm despite room
• Don't ignore the signs: Once prepared, swarms leave quickly

If They Swarm Anyway

• Catch the swarm if accessible (they're gentle when swarming)
• Parent colony usually has viable queen cells
• Check for multiple virgins (may need to remove extras)
• New queen needs 2-3 weeks to mate and start laying