# Is swarming necessarily bad?



## Panther (Oct 19, 2006)

New beekeeper here. This is a STEEP learning curve as I bought a hive and the ONLY info I've gotten has been from books and online as the people that sold me the hive don't speak english.

So, to the point - I believe I had at least one, maybe 2 queens hatch in the last few days. (I'm guessing. I think so as it appeared that the 'pod' was unusual compared to the rest and now there's what appears to be an exit hole in it) Will the bees kill them off if they are not needed? Will they swarm and take half the colony with them? Should I worry about it at all?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

For some one who doesn't have a lot of cash to buy a new queen or the knolege to raise one of their own it is the the best way to get rid of a old queen and get a young one.

If you catch the swarm and have equipment it is a good way increase the colonies you own. But doing a Split in the spring is a better way.

There is lots of information in books and on the internet how to provent swarms. Also lots of information on how to do splits. Search this forum to find one I did several years ago on doing splits.


 Al


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## thenance007 (Mar 18, 2013)

This late in the year they probably aren't going to swarm unless the hive is very overcrowded. What is much more common is supercedure.

The queens that come with packages are usually weak--they are produced in very early Spring when there aren't a lot of drones flying, so they rarely get bred well. So it is very common for the hive to replace her with a new queen. They will build a few queen cells (they look like peanuts hanging down) and the first one that hatches will usually kill the others. It takes about a week from the time she hatches until she is ready to take her mating flights--usually over a several day period. Then another week or so for her to begin laying. So from the time she hatches, it will usually be about 2 - 3 weeks before you will find brood. Meanwhile, all the capped brood from the previous queen will have hatched, so you will not find any eggs or brood during that period.

Many people make the mistake of believing they are queenless, panic, and buy a new queen. When they install her in the hive, the young queen kills her. If you think you are queenless, wait 3 weeks, checking for eggs or brood, before getting a new queen.

A swarm is the bees' natural method of reproduction, so it is only bad in the sense that if a swarm leaves taking half the bees in the hive, both the hive and the new swarm will be too weak to produce a surplus of honey that year. The good news is that the old queen leaves, and a new young queen is produced in the hive who will have local genetics and will most likely be bred better and stronger than the original queen.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

There are tons of videos on youtube about beekeeping. Some of them have excellent information and good clear pictures. You really need to have an experienced beekeeper point out what is going on in a hive, preferably in person, but if that isn't available, the videos are the next best thing. 

Swarming is good from the bees point of view as they get a new queen. It also helps to break the varroa mites life cycle. It is bad if you are wanting to produce honey because a large part of your workforce leaves with the old queen. If the hive 'throws' more than one swarm, you loose more of your worker bees with each swarm.


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