Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Bees swarm as a way of reproducing. The colony creates new queen cells by feeding larvae royal jelly. Once there are capped queen cells in the hive, the colony prepares to swarm. The original queen, along with about half of the bees in the hive, will leave. This resembles a loud tornado of bees. It’s not threatening; it’s just how they sound.
The bees will generally cluster on a nearby tree branch. This is called a swarm cluster.
From the swarm cluster, scout bees go out in search of a new home. Each scout bee returns to the cluster and communicates the location of promising nest sites through a sort of bee dance known as the waggle dance. Over time, more scout bees begin supporting the best location until the swarm reaches a collective decision. The bees, along with the queen, then fly to their new home.
Sometimes swarms will visit a few potential homes before settling into what will become the new hive. Beekeepers will often place swarm traps around their property to entice swarms to move in. A swarm trap is essentially a small beehive.
Recently, the bees in my front yard swarmed, moved to a nearby oak tree, and clustered there. A few hours later, they moved again to somewhere in the woods. I saw them move. It was like a tornado of bees flying over the house, and I thought they were gone.
The following morning, I heard that familiar sound again and noticed that the swarm was moving into a storage hive in the backyard. A storage hive is where I keep built-out honeycomb for when bees begin collecting nectar during the honey flow. This was definitely a stroke of luck.
So now I have another beehive: the original hive in the front yard, where a new queen will be born and begin laying eggs after her mating flight, and the hive in the backyard with the original queen.
Bees swarm as a way of reproducing. The colony creates new queen cells by feeding larvae royal jelly. Once there are capped queen cells in the hive, the colony prepares to swarm. The original queen, along with about half of the bees in the hive, will leave. This resembles a loud tornado of bees. It’s not threatening; it’s just how they sound.
The bees will generally cluster on a nearby tree branch. This is called a swarm cluster.
From the swarm cluster, scout bees go out in search of a new home. Each scout bee returns to the cluster and communicates the location of promising nest sites through a sort of bee dance known as the waggle dance. Over time, more scout bees begin supporting the best location until the swarm reaches a collective decision. The bees, along with the queen, then fly to their new home.
Sometimes swarms will visit a few potential homes before settling into what will become the new hive. Beekeepers will often place swarm traps around their property to entice swarms to move in. A swarm trap is essentially a small beehive.
Recently, the bees in my front yard swarmed, moved to a nearby oak tree, and clustered there. A few hours later, they moved again to somewhere in the woods. I saw them move. It was like a tornado of bees flying over the house, and I thought they were gone.
The following morning, I heard that familiar sound again and noticed that the swarm was moving into a storage hive in the backyard. A storage hive is where I keep built-out honeycomb for when bees begin collecting nectar during the honey flow. This was definitely a stroke of luck.
So now I have another beehive: the original hive in the front yard, where a new queen will be born and begin laying eggs after her mating flight, and the hive in the backyard with the original queen.
