In this solo beekeeping video, Laurence Edwards argues that 2022 will likely set a record for the number of bee swarms captured in the UK. He cites two main drivers: (1) an unusually mild winter and early warm spell in North Wales and across the UK produced unusually large, fast‑growing colonies that reach overcrowding and the swarming trigger much earlier than in typical years; and (2) sharply higher diesel prices are forcing commercial beekeepers to extend inspection intervals from the usual 7‑day schedule to 10‑ or even 14‑day cycles, which reduces their ability to detect and prevent swarms. Edwards notes that while strong colonies are beneficial for spring performance, they also increase the risk of early fatigue and swarming. He warns that many beekeepers may be caught off‑guard by the rapid colony growth and suggests practical steps: keep swarm‑hunting kits ready, set up bait hives, and consult his step‑by‑step guide on attracting free swarms. The video blends personal observations, industry trends, and actionable advice for beekeepers preparing for a potentially record‑breaking swarm season.
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In this video, I'm going to tell you why 2022 is going to be the swarmiest year on record. Now obviously, that's just my opinion, but in this video I'm going to give you 2 really big reasons why I think 2022 is going to be a record breaker in terms of the number of swarms that people are going to go out and capture. So the first reason for me thinking why 2022 is going to be such a big year for swarms is the weather and the condition of the colonies coming out of winter. For us up in North Wales, 2021 into 2022 was by far and away the easiest winter we've ever had, as long as I've been beekeeping anyway. It's been tremendous. The weather's been really good, it's not got down too cold, the colonies have come through strong. The number of losses we've had, you can literally count on a single hand. Is that good for the bees? I'm not really sure. There's kind of two trains of thought here. One, that it's quite good for the bees to go into a bit of a hibernation mode and not do too much. And then they boom when it comes into April or May. And then there's the other train of thought as well, which is you want them nice and big and strong all the way through the year, even in the winter, because then you get really good performance going into the spring. I'm kind of somewhere in the middle of that. I like to see my colonies big and strong all the way through, but there's definitely a tipping point as to when they get too strong, and that triggers early fatigue of the bees, and it definitely triggers early swarming. So if we're getting good weather up here in North Wales, The rest of England, the rest of Wales, the rest of the UK will have been way, way better than that as well. And I can see it across Twitter, across all social media, from bee farmers that I speak to. Colonies are in prime condition and they've got 2 supers on in the middle of April. So I think the number one reason for me is just the general size of the colonies this early in the year. It will definitely catch a few people out, especially with the really nice warm spell that we got kind of early March. And then it went cold again and people went back to not doing inspections or didn't even get their first inspection in there, like some of my apiaries as well. So I think there's definitely an element of people being caught out by just how big their colonies are early in the year, and then the fact that they're gonna reach this kind of saturation point within the hive much earlier than they would've done in previous years. But I'm not putting a huge amount of weight on that in terms of the amount of swarms that are gonna be released in the UK as a whole. The big reason as far as I see it is the fact that the price of diesel has gone up so, so much that people who have got a lot of colonies of bees now genuinely have to make a decision. Is it worth my while going around doing inspections every 7 days to try and mitigate losing a couple of swarms? Or is it in my interest to kind of maybe go to 10-day inspections, maybe even go to 14-day inspections to try and save some money on that fuel bill, get the fuel bill down, and then say, right, okay, I'm going to lose a couple of swarms because I'm not doing the inspections that I should be doing. We're going to try our best to stick to 7-day inspections. We clip all of our queens so we can go out to 10 days. Sometimes the weather doesn't allow it though, and we often lose kind of like 2 or 3 swarms a year. That's about the average that we've seen over the last couple of years. But you look at some of the bigger operations where they've got hundreds, if not thousands, of colonies of bees. If they make a decision like that, which is to move from 7-day to 10-day or even 14-day inspections, you know they're going to lose quite a lot of swarms. Couple that with the fact that you've got big booming colonies coming out of winter into a really nice mild spring, I think 2022 is going to be a record breaker. Make sure you've got your kit stored in the back of your truck ready for when you need it. Get your bait hives up because 2022 is going to be a crazy year when it comes to swarms. If you want to see my step-by-step guide as to how to attract a free swarm of bees, check out this video here, and good luck with your swarm hunting.
