Swarm season: reproduction as a programme
Between May and June a strong colony wants to divide. Queen cells, the prime swarm, nuclei — what biology requires and what the beekeeper can use.
Swarming is not a disruption of the operation. It is how the superorganism reproduces. A colony that does not swarm is convenient for beekeeping; a colony that could not swarm would be biologically finished. The work in May is to steer that reproduction, not to deny it.
The prime swarm takes the old queen and a large share of the flying bees. Left behind are brood, young bees and queen cells. Anyone who understands that understands nuclei, shook swarms and the weekly check.
Anyone who misses swarm season does not have less work. They just no longer have it in hand.
From cup to cluster
Play cups are wax, not a decision. An egg in the cell is the decision. After the queen cell is sealed, count about eight days to emergence. The prime swarm often leaves just before that, on a warm morning. Afterswarms with young queens can follow.
Scouts search for the new cavity while the swarm hangs as a cluster — often one to three days. The decision is made at the site itself, by a quorum. For neighbours that is the moment a swarm 'sits on a branch' and can be caught.
Prevent and use
Preventing means: space, a young queen, brood removal, a timely super, genetic selection for low swarming. Breaking cells without relieving the colony only postpones the swarm by a week.
Using means: make nuclei when the colony is ready. Brood combs with nurse bees, stores, a cell or a queen. The production colony stays strong as a forager force; the young colony becomes next year's colony. Anyone who does not split in May often buys queens in August, dearer and later.
What the check is looking for
Not 'whether the bees are well'. But: open queen cells, sealed queen cells, congestion in the brood nest, drones, space in the super. Seven days is the interval because queen development allows no other.
A swarm that goes anyway is not a disaster if you catch it. A swarm that moves in next door is a problem of beekeeping, not of the bee.
