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๐Ÿงถ Swarming

Swarming is natural and good. This is how bee colony reproduces.

Healthy swarms usually are powerful and hyper-energized.

Swarming possibility increases if:

  • Queen is old and thus needs natural way of replacement
  • Space (amount of frames) is limited and thus it is a limit on colony growth

However, beekeepers want to handle and sometimes prevent swarming because:

  1. Swarming can happen too late (in late august-september). This means that the colony will not have sufficient time to build the nest and gather sufficient amount of resources to survive the winter
  2. Beekeepers cannot keep an eye on the colonies 24/7 to catch the swarm.
  3. Swarm can settle on too high up a tree, in a chimney or other areas that are hard to reach
  4. In urban environment, swarms can scare people / neighbours

So, preventing colony from swarming by splitting it beforehand is a way to avoid the hassle of catching swarm later.