How to Prevent Swarming and Keep Your Colony Stable

January 21, 2025

While swarming is a normal reproductive behavior of honeybee colonies, for beekeepers, it is problematic. As the existing colony swarms, a significant number of bees, along with the queen, will leave the hive for a new colony setup elsewhere. This leads to bees disappearing all at once, less honey being produced, and the colony being unable to balance itself anymore.

The key to good bees is to prevent them from swarming and keeping a stable colony. In this guide, we’ll cover the why and how of swarming, what to look for, and steps to prevent swarming while ensuring a strong and successful colony.

Why Do Bees Swarm? What is Swarming?

Swarming is a natural means of reproduction and expansion for honeybee colonies. This typically happens in spring and early summer when the conditions in the hives indicate to the bees that its time to perform a split.

Reasons Why Bees Swarm:

1. Overcrowding – as a hive gets too crowded, bee all feel the need to split and create more room.

2. Warm Hive – If there is not good ventilation inside the-€™s too warm and this effects swarming tendencies.

3. No room for brood and honey – When the queen has no space to put eggs and worker bees have no room for honey, they start to make preparations to swarm.

4. Queen old age — In the case of older queens, pheromone production is lower and the colony is more likely to rear a queen and swarm.

5. When to swarm — Some colonies have a natural genetic urge to swarm, even if it is temporarily good out.

By recognizing these causes, beekeepers can intervene to prevent swarming before it happens.

Recognising Signs of Swarming

There are some signs that bees give a while before swarming. Knowing these early can enable you to do something to prevent swarming.

Common Signs of Swarming:

✔ A Large number of Drones – A large number of drones will be in the colony, they are a sign the colony is gearing up for a nuptial flight.

✔ Queen Cells on the Frames – At the outside corners of the bottom corners of the frames, tab-shaped structures that might be as large as a walnut indicate swarm cells suggesting that the colony is raising another queen.

✔ Frontal Bunching of Bees at the Entrance - In warm weather bees may be bunched up at the entrance in masses.

✔ Crowded brood nest — If there’s not much space for the queen to lay eggs, the colony might well choose to swarm.

✔ Quirky or Overly Active Bees – Bees may seem more irritable than usual or fly out in swarms to practice without actually leaving the hive.

If you see these signs, stop all production now.

Methods to Prevent Swarming

1. Allow More Room in the Hive

After that, being cramped up is one of the awe inspiring initiators of swarming. Providing sufficient space for bees prevents them from being motivated to leave.

How to Add Space:

Super Early – Add honey supers before congestion occurs.
Give More Space for Brood – Put empty frames in the brood box to promote shearing.
Eliminate Unwanted Honeycomb — Take away surplus honey to give the queen space to go on laying eggs.

Providing bees sufficient space to grow allows them to stay on a more even keel.

2. Check Hive Regularly

More regular inspections enable beekeepers to check on how the colony is doing, as well as slow swarming when it starts.

What to Look For:

Queen cups/combs (these are often swarm cells you find along the bottom of frames)
Less room for brood and nectar in store
Too many bees in the same hive.

During swarming season we inspect the hives every 7–10 days to nip swarming in the bud.

3. Separating the Hive to Decrease Swarming Behavior

If a colony is a real powerhouse and is jamming the hive, a well-executed hive split can help prevent swarming.

How to Split a Hive:

Locate the Queen and install her into another hive box along with some workers, brood, and honey.
Queen Cells Left Behind — The rest of the remaining colony will be there will a new queen.
Move the New Hive Minimum 3 Miles Away – This means the bees donnot return to the original hive.

With splitting, the beekeeper can control growth of their colonies without losing bees in an uncontrolled swarm.

4. Remove Swarm Cells

Swarm cells are a sign that the colony is gearing up to depart. Getting rid of these cells delays or halts the process of swarming.

How to Remove Swarm Cells:

Remove any row of large, peanut-shaped queen cells that you see at the bottom of the frames, but do a thorough inspection of each frame.
Continue this weekly until the colony has stabilized.
Do not touch swarm cells unless you are convinced the hive contains a good queen.

It is the best practice when used along with other swarm prevention strategies as well.

5. Substituting the Queen When Necessary

This is because older queens produce lower amounts of pheromones and are therefore more likely to swarm. Removing the queen will help to stabilize the colony.

How to Requeen a Hive:

Present a virgin queen in a queen cage.
Give the bees a couple days to start accepting the new queen.
Be sure to remove the old queen before her replacement arrives as they will fight for dominance.

You want the colony to be strong and less likely to swarm so you will want a younger, productive queen.

6. Improve Hive Ventilation

Swarming can be instigated by a hot, badly ventilated hive. Keeping beee comfortable with good air flow

How to Improve Ventilation:

Employ Ventilated Covers – These assist with the management of temperature within the hive.
Tilt The Hive Forward a Bit — For Better Air Flow and It Prevents Moisture
Create Ventilation Holes — Micro holes in the hive body can permit air to travel though the inside of the hive but does not expose bees to drafts.

Providing a cool and well-ventilated house can deter swarming.

7. Feed Bees Wisely

Feed a lot, grow a lot — Accidental overfeeding can cause hives to expand rapidly and become overcrowded, which can then also lead to swarming.

Best Feeding Practices:

Spring and early summer is when there is a natural abundance of nectar, so be careful not to overfeed them at that time of year.
Feeding small amounts at a time to further colonies and in turn help them grow and thrive but not explode.
Don't overdo it → Only feed enough sugar syrup to keep the colonies alive, but make sure that the colonies are not growing too large.

This can help keep hive growth and swarming risk in check.

8. Throw the Pod Away from the Colony

If the bugs are being productive then they are less likely to swarm.

Ways to Keep Bees Busy:

Give Extra Comb — When bees are drawing out new comb, they are busy.
Promote Foraging – Provide adequate nectar flow and forage sources close to home.
Frame Rotation – Rearranging frames in the hive prompts bees to care for the hive instead of swarming.

Furthermore, worker bees are less likely swarm to reproduce if they feel busy.

What to Do If a Swarm Occurs

Even with that best of intentions swarms occur. However, if your hive does swarm, you could either:

✔ Collect the Swarm – If a swarm is actually present in the vicinity then collect it and place it in a new hive box.

✔ Leave It Alone – If you cannot capture it, then leave it to nature.

Check Up On The Parent Colony — See Whether Or Not The Remaining Hive Has A Queen If not, introduce a new one.

Immediate action after a swarm to secure the parent colony.

Conclusion

Swarming is a normal process in the lifecycle of a bee colony but beekeepers can do a few things to avoid swarms. You can maintain a strong and productive hive by giving space, doing splits, requeening as needed, and ensuring good ventilation.

By inspecting your hives regularly, you can intervene early, manage issues before they become a problem and most importantly, keep your bees happy and healthy and working efficiently. There you have it, these tips can help make sure you minimize the risk of swarming and still have successful beekeeping.