How to Keep Your Honey Bees From Swarming

Swarming is an instinctive behavior that honey bees exhibit when they are trying to increase their population in the spring and early summer. According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Department of Entomology, swarms can consist of 1,500 to 30,000 bees. Due to the quantity of bees, people often fear them and want to prevent bees from swarming. If you have honey bees in your yard or as livestock on a bee farm, you can take measures to keep the honey bees from swarming.

Things You'll Need

  • Brood box and frames
  • Syrup
  • Beekeeping suit
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Examine the brood nest where the queen lays her eggs inside the colony. If you can keep the population of honey bees down per colony, this can reduce or prevent swarming. As you check the brood nest, look for empty cells. If the some of the cells are empty, this is a sign that overpopulation is not yet an issue.

    • 2

      Make a new colony to reduce overpopulation. Splitting up the colony helps to keep swarming to a minimum. Remove three frames of brood and the queen's eggs. Add a few frames that contain pollen and honey so the brood will have sufficient food to sustain. You can also pour syrup onto the new frames, as this works well to attract new bees to help colonize the new nucleus.

    • 3

      Shake the bees from the other frames in the old hive into the new colony. This will also help attract bees to the new colony. However, leave the old queen in the old hive. A new queen will be established for the new colony eventually.