To follow from our previous post. Honeybees swarm to reproduce. One hive becomes two and two become four etc. So long as the original Queen is happy and all is in good order, the workers (females) will select a number of newly hatched eggs and feed the larvae a surfit of royal jelly. This is a secretion used in the nutrition of larvae. It is secreted by the hypopharyngeal gland – sometimes called the brood food gland. It is rich in protein and the selected Queens are fed this wholly, and not pollen and honey like her normal sisters are fed.
The original Queen will vacate the hive, taking with her about two thirds of the elder bees. They will hang in a cluster, usually close to the original hive, until scout bees decide by democratic process, the place of their new home.
Most swarms occur on warm sunny days from early May until the end of July, usually between 11am and 4pm. Beekeepers attending a swarm normally shake them into a box. This box is left at the site until evening, when the beekeeper will return to see that the stragglers and flying bees are in the box. This can then be removed to the desired location.
Bees, when first swarming, have normally engorged themselves with honey from the stores in their old hive. Their stomachs are very full, often making it anatomically difficult to operate their sting. These stores can be put to good use in the new home, where wax comb production is important to give the Queen somewhere to lay eggs to enable the colony to go forward.
Meanwhile back at the original hive, the developing Queens have hatched from eggs at 3 days to larvae for 6 days (fed royal jelly). At day 9 the cell is capped with wax and then kept warm by the nurse bees (34.5/35.5deg C). On day 16 the queen cells hatch. Often, the first Queen to hatch will tear down the developing cells of her sisters, stamping her new authority on the hive. This new virgin Queen will then, after several days, take to the wing on her mating flight and so the whole process begins again.
“A swarm in May is worth a load of hay, A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon, A swarm in July is not worth a fly” This rhyme relates to the time given to allow the new colony to build up to strength so it can put up stores to survive the winter. May and June means enough time, but by the time we get to July, the forage is going over and time is running out. Not so this year as the seasons are behind with the awful weather.