How to Catch a Swarm to Get Free Bees for Your Apiary

Why Do Bees Swarm Anyway?

Bees swarm in the spring primarily to find a new home. The generally accepted theory for this is that after a hive size condenses over winter, the spring buildup of bees results in a perceived crunch of space. When bees sense this, their natural instinct to leave and find a new, bigger home kicks in, and most of the bees leave- thus, swarming.

We split hives from one into two to mimic this natural behavior in our apiaries. We take half of the bees, with the queen, and move them into a new box. Roughly half of the bees (and foragers that may drift back) stay behind, rear a new queen, and between the additional space and brood break, the hive numbers become managed, they have more space to expand, and the bees are much less likely to swarm.

To date, I've been pretty fortunate never to have a hive swarm on me, so the splitting management technique seems to do pretty well, all things considered.

But what do you need to do to catch another hive's swarm in season to build up your apiary numbers? Well, we have some tips.

Three Ways to Catch a Swarm

In practice, there are three main ways you can catch a swarm. These are not the only ways, just the most common:

1. You get notified of a swarm nearby, suit up, take your smoker and a nuc box to where the bees are, and gently coax them into a box with frames. Once the queen gets in, the rest of the bees should follow and enter the box within a period of minutes to hours. Later that night, after they stopped foraging, you could consider moving them to your apiary, hopefully several miles away.
2. You set up a bait trap either on the ground or in a tree, with old frames, and, ideally, a pheromone spray like Swarm Commander (more on that in a minute), and wait to see if you can catch a passing swarm. After you catch the swarm, you wait until they stop foraging in the evening and move them to your apiary just like in the first option.
3. You have an empty hive in your bee yard, complete with drawn frames, bait it with a pheromone spray, and wait to see if you can catch a swarm looking for a permanent home. If you do, you don't have to move them since, well, the hive is the home!

Within these three methods, there is a wide range of discussion about best practices. Fully loaded boxes with drawn frames or a few empty slots kept open to provide space? People disagree. Drawn comb or empty foundation? Again, people disagree. How close to your existing hives can you catch a swarm and move them? You will be shocked to hear this, but people disagree.

I was told it was unlikely I'd catch a swarm in an empty hive in my bee yard less than five feet from an active hive, and I did without issue. Seriously, the swarm didn't seem to care at all. So, what works for some may not work for others.

One of the best pieces of advice I read from another beekeeper is that there is no right or wrong way to catch a swarm. All of these can work for Beekeeper A, and none may work for Beekeeper B. Bees are living creatures, and will do what they want- not what we want. 

• I will admit, there seems to be more universal agreement that bees are more likely to take to a bait box with old, drawn frames in it (due to having existing pheromones, wax, and propolis on them) and that bees generally will only move into a space that is larger than their hive cluster. A big swarm moving into a tiny space is unlikely simply because that's why they left their original home to begin with!

No matter what camp you fall into on the above, the essence comes down to the fact that a swarm has two key stages. First, they find a temporary home after leaving their original hive, typically on the side of a building or high up in a tree, where they may live for a day or two while they look for a larger, permanent home. Second, once the scout bees find an adequate location, they move to their permanent home. 

You can see here how Options 1 and 2, above, are a bit tailored to the first phase of a swarm- you're gathering bees in a temporary home before moving them into an empty hive. Option 3, on the other hand, is more for the second phase, where a transient swarm decides to pick your empty hive to be its new home. Your mileage may vary, but just know that beekeepers around the world catch bees in all three methods, and there is no right or wrong way here- they all work for some and don't work for others.

Now, Option 1 above is pretty simple to follow, because you're finding and actively moving bees into a box. You may hear of a swarm nearby, walk or drive over, and collect the bees. For the other options, you have some more things to watch out for! 

Swarm Scouts or Robber Bees?

With my own apiary, I baited two dead-out hives from the previous season with Swarm Commander (with fully drawn comb and a drawn-but-empty super). This spray has thyme oil and other pheromones that are attractive to bees, and generally has pretty good reviews to at least encourage scouts to swing by for a visit. Does it work better than thyme oil or just old comb with propolis and/or even a bit of honey and wax spread on a frame? I can't really say for sure and have not had a controlled study for reference.

All I know is that I baited a hive with Swarm Commander and caught a swarm pretty quickly, and that's good enough for me. Whether or not the box would've caught a hive from the remaining scents and pheromones, or simply using conventional thyme oil, is hard to say.

That said, I did re-bait the hives about once a week when there was no activity, but whether I started baiting too early at the beginning of swarm season is, again, hard to say. Still, shortly after swarm season began in earnest (per local Facebook groups), I noticed a handful of bees checking out the hives. The first day, it was just a couple. The second day it was a dozen. The third day, maybe closer to 100. The next day, we caught a swarm, and it was a pretty unreal scene of about twenty thousand bees flying all over and parading into the hive (ironically, right before a major incoming storm- a coincidence? Maybe, maybe not!).

But how do you know that the initial bees are swarm scout bees or robber bees? Well, there are a few key differences you may want to look out for:

First, if your hive box was previously raided, like ours, or if you are in a period of nectar flow, robbing is simply unlikely. Whenever we have had hives robbed, we had a flurry of bees trying to enter every nook in the hive to get in and steal as much honey as they could and the behavior was, to put it bluntly, rather agressive. Why would robbers come to an already raided hive during the middle of a nectar flow? It doesnt' make sense. That was my first indication that they were maybe swarm scouts- we simply had no food for them.

Second, swarm scouts have a recognizable pattern to them. They may cautiously fly up to the hive, stop on the landing board, fly back, look like they're orienting, land again, walk in, walk out, do loops around the hive, and repeat- almost like they're investigating every open area, not going inside aggressively the way a robber would. They're doing their due diligence on the hive, similar to how we are when we buy a house. If this activity is repeated over a few days with progressively more and more bees, you may have swarm interest!

The trick here is just to wait. Don't go in the hive. Don't bother them. Just wait. They may like what they see and sign the lease to move in. They may not like what they see and move on. But, with any luck, after a few days, you'll have tens of thousands of bees flying all over your beeyard and moving into the new digs. Angie got to witness this, and I caught the very end, and it really was a sight to behold (and far less terrifying than when our hives were robbed the previous season- that was violent!).

What To Do After You Catch a Swarm?

Much like everything else, there are many conflicting thoughts out there on what to do after you catch a swarm (and for the first two cases, move them into their permanent home in your apiary). Some let the bees go alone as they have done in nature for millennia. Others are a bit more proactive and feed syrup, pollen, and treat for mites, because some theories suggest caught swarms may be weaker and may not survive in the long run without some extra help.

The best bit of advice I took to heart here is to leave the bees alone until you at least see consistent pollen coming in. This indicates that they are liking their new spot and bringing in resources to call it home. (Bees that swarm, in general, bring a ton of resources with them as they need to survive hiveless for a fair bit of time- some may be slow to start foraging, whereas others get to work immediately. This could also depend on how much work they have to do in your hive, e.g. drawing comb vs having a fully drawn hive.)

If you spot pollen coming in, most beekeepers still wait a period of time (often three to seven days post-move-in) before doing an inspection. When inspecting, if you see eggs or larva present, it is another good sign that the bees have accepted the new home, as the queen is unlikely to start laying eggs if the bees were thinking of leaving (and likely won't leave if there is brood present). Giving them time to settle will prevent any shock that would have them abscond again, so I'd err on the side of waiting, especially if you want to pull and inspect frames and not just add syrup/pollen on a top board.

This could be the time to also treat for mites, as it generally takes a week or so from first eggs to capped brood (meaning a more effective treatment), in addition to providing a bit of extra sugar and pollen to help the hive fill the deeps out all the quicker. Remember, the stronger the hive at the start, the faster it grows, the more honey you get for them (and maybe you!), and the more likely they will survive the following winter. Feedings could also depend on whether you're in a strong nectar flow already or not, too. (Admittedly, I decided to wait to treat until summer dearth just for the convenience of doing all my hives at once.)

Still, it is a balancing act. Upsetting a new swarm can cause them to possibly abscond, so you need to figure out when you are most comfortable taking the risk to pop in, take a look, and even provide an assist. What's good for Beekeeper A may not be good for Beekeeper B, and someone out there will always think the alternative idea is simply wrong- that's just how it is.

In either case, catching a swarm is a great way to save money in acquiring new bees for your apiary. But, as with all things, no method has a 100% success rate. If you go find a swarm on a tree and move them into a temporary box, they may not take to your permanent hives. If you attract a swarm to a permanent hive, they may not like what they see or, if you inspect too early, get spooked and leave. The odds aren't great, even at the best of times, but if you get a swarm and they take to your hive, well, enjoy the win!

Do you have a favorite way to catch a bee swarm? Comment to share!