Next week it appears temperatures may reach the low 80's. We can only hope! But those nice temperatures also bring along the distinct possibility of swarming.
Swarming can or will occur from strong overwintered hives. If when you open the top of your hive and see overcrowded bees just about boiling out then the hive conditions are right and the bees are probably just biding their time for the weather and nectar conditions to be right. Right now we are having a good dandelion nectar flow and next week the temperatures will be right also.
The amount of honey a hive gathers through the summer is proportional to the hive population. When you lose 50% of the worker bees you also lose that ability to gather nectar. Sometimes beekeepers whine that the swarm took all of the honey with them. No true. They only take about 5 pounds. What really happens is the hive loses its work force that produces the surplus honey we covet. It takes at least 6 weeks before the workforce recovers. By then our honey flow is usually complete.
So what can you do?
1) Removing swarm queen cells will delay swarming, but just for about eight (8) days; the time it will take the hive to raise and cap a new batch of queen larvae. So cutting out swarm cells is a delaying tactic only.
2) You can do a split. Simply separate the upper and lower brood boxes. Whichever box has the queen will continue to grow. The box without the queen will set about raising a new queen. Its about a three week process to get a new laying queen. The chance of success is 60 to 70%. If you find queen cells put them all in the queenless part of the split.
3) You can remove frames of bees and brood and start nucs. This will relieve overcrowding and may prevent swarming.
4) Do nothing and see your hive swarm with the hopes of catching the swarm from a nearby tree while their scouts are looking for a new home.
5) You can also put out a swarm trap. It should be at least 100 yards from you home apiary.
Chasing swarms has its own rewards. Happy beekeeping.
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