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FEATURE

The Swarm Part 1 of 4

By Allen Cosnow, DVM

here is a part of the life of honey bees that evokes fear can continue at a more rapid rate--and even more rapid in April,
T in many people: the swarm. The very word can be fright- when there is a large diversity of spring plants blooming.
ening to those who aren't familiar with this phenome-
By May the queen, in a good year, is laying eggs 24 hours a day.
non, but for those of us who know the bees, this natural Then a new and abundant source of protein-rich pollen appears
way that their colony reproduces by dividing is a biological marvel, from fruit trees such as the crabapples that grow all over our sub-
an almost mystical occurrence. Although there is still much that re- urbs. The hive is already crowded, but the pollen continues to be
mains not well understood about all the intricacies, I will describe brought in, and the queen continues her egg-laying at a more and
what happens when a colony swarms. more intensive rate. A thousand, even twelve hundred new worker
During the winter the queen doesn't lay eggs, and the workers bees emerge from their cells every day. The hive often becomes
don't leave the hive (or the natural cavity if it is a wild colony). crowded to the point that there isn't enough room inside for all of
Many workers die, and the population decreases, sometimes to a them, so after dark, when none of them are out flying to work on
very low level. Then as the days begin to grow longer in late win- flowers and all are "at home," many have to spend the night gath-
ter, the queen recommences her egg-laying, slowly at first because ered on the outside walls of the hive.
the workers have only one source of protein--the pollen that re- At this overpopulated stage the colony must divide, and it be-
mains in the hive from the previous year--to feed to her for egg comes intent on swarming.
production and to the new larvae for growth and development. To be continued…
But in late March (in our latitude) the weather becomes a little
warmer, giving the workers the opportunity to fly out to gather Allen Cosnow, D.V.M. is a retired small animal veterinarian who keeps
and bring back the fresh pollen that becomes available from cer- his several bee colonies on a city lot in Glencoe, Il, a lake-shore suburb of
tain species of maples and willows, from crocus in gardens, and Chicago. He is a veterinary school classmate of Fred H. Olin, D.V.M., M.D.
from other kinds of early-flowering plants. Now the egg-laying

30 San Antonio Medicine • September 2018