Bees for development Journal 119 June 2016
Practical Beekeeping
Swarming bees are healthy bees! How to use the self-healing capacity of bees When bees are left alone in a favourable environment with low bee density and good food provision, they will survive for years without help from a beekeeper. This surprising observation in times of the Varroa mite has already been frequently confirmed all over the world, including in Europe. Swarming has been identified as one possible factor for their good survival. Why is this the case and how can it be integrated into our own beekeeping practice? What happens during swarming?
Dr Wolfgang Ritter Bees for the world OIE, World Organisation for Animal Health, Freiburg, Germany ritter@beehealth.info
nest to minimise possibilities of subsequent transfer of diseases. And only healthy bees succeed in reaching the entrance holes of nests at great height.
Photo and illustrations © W Ritter
Only strong, vigorous colonies swarm. As a rule, a swarm consists of 2 kg i.e. around 14,000 bees together with the old queen, which together form the first, ‘prime’ swarm. Subsequent ‘after-swarms’ with young virgin queens are smaller in size. Some late swarms with only a few thousand bees are rarely able to survive.
A natural swarm consists mainly of worker bees over 18 days old, forming the cluster of bees crowding around the queen and scout bees. Only a few younger bees take care of the queen and the subsequent first brood. Before emerging from the hive, the bees have filled their honey stomachs so that they can survive for the days before new resources are available at their new nesting site. Swarms search for nesting places at a good distance from their original
In Africa the collection of swarms in trees has been an integral part of local style beekeeping methods. This is one of the reasons why Varroa mites and foulbrood do not stand a chance in Africa 3
