What Is Bee “Swarming” Exactly?

Amy Grisak and her husband, Grant, live in Montana with their boys and often share stories with us about their adventures as beekeepers. 

A “swarm of bees” sounds scary, and is enough to send shivers down the spine of many people, but there’s no need to panic. These traveling honey bees are simply finding a new home.

Why Do Bees Swarm?

Swarming is a natural phenomenon that typically occurs in the spring. After surviving winter by relying on their honey reserves, bee hive activity increases as the days become longer and warmer. During this time, the queen lays up to 2,000 eggs per day, which transform into adult bees in just three weeks. By early to mid-spring, the hive becomes crowded with tens of thousands of new bees.

When the bees sense overcrowding or when conditions in the hive become less favorable, they create larger cells in the brood chamber to feed the larvae with royal jelly, thus producing a new queen.

Recognizing signs of swarming can be challenging for beekeepers unless they diligently monitor their hives. Signs may include bees overflowing from the entrance or the presence of queen cells. Otherwise, you might wake up to find that half of the hive has swarmed, even with vigilant observation.

I experienced my first swarm two decades ago. I thought something was amiss because the bees’ buzzing seemed extraordinarily loud. Imagine my surprise when I saw a group of them clustered on a small lodgepole pine tree. Thankfully, this was an easy retrieval, as I only had to snip the tree below the cluster and shake them into a new hive body (wearing protective gear, of course!).

However, not everyone is as fortunate. A couple of summers ago, a resident living near the alfalfa fields where we keep some of our bees called to inform us of odd bee behavior. When my husband Grant investigated, he found that half of the hive had departed, leaving behind bees robbing hundreds of pounds of stored honey. Our strongest hive had taken off, taking most of their honey along. Despite searching in cottonwoods and other favored bee locations, the swarm was never found.

what Should You Do if You See Swarming?

Honey bees are precious these days, which is why it’s important to try to save a colony if you see one swarming, or if you have one in a spot where you don’t want it. During a swarm, bees tend to gather on a tree or branch for a brief period, ranging from a few minutes to a couple of days. This gives the “scout” bees a chance to locate a new location. The good news is that swarming honey bees are generally calm since they are preoccupied with carrying honey and do not have a hive to defend. However, this does not mean you should provoke them. It is a great opportunity to observe them from a safe distance while exercising caution.

The best way to help out the honey bees is to call a beekeeper in your area to capture the swarm. You can find one by searching for local beekeeping organizations, or contact your local Extension office, as many offer beekeeping classes and might have the information of who keeps bees in your town. Contacting any of these organizations is a good step in finding a beekeeper who is more than happy to rescue a colony. Typically, a beekeeper will not charge for a removal, unless there is an additional cost for equipment rental, as the bees are valuable enough.

How the bees are captured completely depends on where they’re located. I was fortunate early on because we were surrounded by tiny lodgepole pines, making it easy to handle. But when the cluster of bees is higher in the branches, it might require a ladder or a cherry picker to reach them to either shake the bees into the box or snip off the branch to bring down and shake.

Sometimes, the bees end up in odd places. Like on the roof of a hot dog cart in Times Square. One time, Grant captured a swarm that nestled itself within the wheel well of a parked vehicle. With a hive tool, he gently scooped the bees from the wheel well onto a frame, being particularly careful to gather the queen who is protected by the workers in the middle of the cluster, and then slid the frame into an empty hive body.

In another instance, there was a feral hive established in the soffit of a barn, which was converted to a guest house. When bees are within a structure, it’s far more challenging. You can’t simply seal them up or kill them since the smell of tens of thousands of rotting bees and larvae would be terrible. Thankfully, the owners wanted these bees saved, so Grant went up in a cherry picker and removed enough of the soffit to reach the hive. He carefully sliced off the honeycomb and placed it in an empty hive body. It was a textbook removal, and those bees made up one of the best hives we had.

How Can You Help?

Swarming bees might look intimidating, but they’re not. You can help them by keeping an eye on them, especially if they leave their initial cluster area, and call a beekeeper who will give them a safe new home.