Sometimes, after swarming, the new queen fails and your colony can end up queenless. When your colony swarms, all you need do is make sure they have a new queen either by letting them raise their own or by installing one for them. It is a natural biological function designed to propagate the species. Although many beekeepers view this as an undesirable event (because it can result in a lower honey yield for the beekeeper), it is not an indication of poor health. When this happens a significant number of bees will remain in the original hive, raise a new queen and continue to thrive. Swarming is when a portion of the colony leaves the hive with the queen to create a new hive in a new location. It’s important to understand the difference because they are not the same thing. Unfortunately, the reality is that bees abandoned their hive when conditions became unbearable and when bees do this, they don’t typically have the resources to survive long afterwards.įirst, let’s define the two scenarios in which bees leave their hive and clear up some of the confusion surrounding these two terms: swarming and absconding. I often hear new beekeepers use “swarming” to describe an event that is actually absconding. This rationale is typically followed up with bafflement as to why they would have left, a shrug and then good wishes to the bees in their new home. The thought is that the bees simply moved out and are still alive in another location. Often when a new beekeeper loses a colony, I hear them claim that the bees “just left”.
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