If you’ve ever seen a huge cloud of bees moving together or a big cluster of buzzing insects hanging from a branch, you’ve probably witnessed a bee swarm. While it might look alarming, bee swarms are actually a completely natural and fascinating part of a honeybee’s life cycle, and are usually perfectly safe if viewed from a comfortable distance.
In this guide, we’ll explain what a bee swarm is, why bees swarm, and what you should do if you see one - especially as swarming season runs from May to July/ August in the UK.
What Is a Bee Swarm?
A bee swarm is when a large group of honeybees leaves their hive in search of a new home. It usually happens when a hive becomes overcrowded, and the colony decides it’s time to split.
The old queen leaves the hive with up to 60% of the workers, forming a swirling cloud in the air before settling on a nearby tree branch, fence post, or wall. The swarm may hang there in a tight ball for a few hours or a couple of days while scout bees search for a new nesting site. Once the swarm has gathered in a temporary spot, the scout bees scout out new potential homes - typically hollow trees, chimneys, or roof spaces - and report back to the group before moving the whole colony. The science behind this is amazing, and if anyone is really keen to find out about it, Honey Bee Democracy by Thomas Seeley is a fascinating book on the subject.
Swarming is a natural way for honeybee colonies to reproduce and survive. It’s triggered by a few key factors, but mostly due to overcrowding in the hive, a mature or elderly queen and this year especially, warm weather in late spring and early summer, causing plentiful supplies of nectar and pollen, and this being put into the area the queen wants to lay in. She doesnt appreciate it, and this is a big trigger to move house.
Are Bee Swarms Dangerous?
While a swarm of bees might look intimidating, they’re usually very docile at this stage. The bees are focused on protecting the queen and finding a new home, not defending a nest. They rarely sting unless directly provoked.
That said, it’s always wise to keep a safe distance and avoid disturbing them, especially if they've been hanging on a branch for a while and even more so if it's been raining. They don't like that.
What To Do
If you spot a bee swarm in your garden, park, or local area, its important to stay calm, and quietly observe this amazing natural phenomenon. Swarming bees are not aggressive and should be handled by a beekeeper, who will be very happy to collect them. If you know of a local beekeeper, get in touch. Also, The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) has a useful Swarm Collector Map to help you find someone nearby who can safely relocate the bees.
It's good to be able to help these swarms as quickly as possible to minimise stress to both the bees and the public, especially if they are in a busy place. If they are left to their own devices, it is likely that they will eventually choose somewhere like a fascia board, a chimney pot or a compost bin to nest in, which are less than ideal for the homeowner or the bees, which risk being poisoned due to the difficulty and expense in removing them safely. New swarms have a 20% chance of surviving their first winter anyway, and this reduces further the later in the year they relocate.
While it might seem like an inconvenience, bee swarms play a vital role in maintaining healthy honeybee populations. Each new colony created through swarming helps ensure the survival of these important pollinators, which are crucial for crops, wildflowers, and biodiversity. If you host a wild swarm in your chimney, you are doing an amazing job at safeguarding the species as it is in the genetic library of these wild swarms that survival behavior is refined and selected. These wild hives don`t have a beekeeper to prop them up if they are in a pickle, so the ones that survive for more than a year or so are truly precious. They are able to cope with disease, invasive parasites, habitat loss and climate change, so its well worth propagating their genetics to incorporate their survivability into our own stock.
Here at Hive Mind Meadery, we work closely with our own hives and local beekeepers to support responsible beekeeping and protect pollinators. We collect swarms, give them a new home and support them as they get established.
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