Laurence Edwards explains how honeybee colonies reproduce through swarming. When a hive gets overcrowded, workers build special cells to raise new queens. The old queen leaves with half the workers, clusters on a tree while scouts find a new home, then lays up to 2,000 eggs per day once settled.
In this video, I'm going to show you why honeybees swarm. Swarming is the process by which honeybee colonies reproduce to form new colonies. When a colony outgrows its home and becomes too congested or too populated for the queen's pheromone to control the entire workforce, then the workers signal that it is time to swarm. Sometimes colonies can even swarm before they run out of space due to their genetics. Without swarms, there would be no honeybees. The workers begin building swarm cells for new queens. Once the swarm cells are constructed and the queen lays eggs in them, then the colony changes its behavior. Foraging slows down and the Workers begin erratic movements within the hive. Meanwhile, the queen quits laying eggs and the colony reduces her weight in order that she can fly. The nurse bees feed the larvae in the swarm cells a nutritious mix of royal jelly, which stimulates the virgin's ovaries and separates her from her sisters. She is the only bee within the colony that has the capacity to lay fertilised eggs. When the queen is ready, she leaves the hive and is followed by about half of the workers in a massive cloud of flying bees. This is called a swarm. The queen will find a nearby tree, land, and emit pheromones that signal to the The cluster will remain there for several hours while scout bees explore the area for a new home. Often the cluster will leave, travel a mile or more, and reform on another branch far away from the original hive. The cluster will remain until scout bees locate a new hive or cavity for them to permanently occupy. Once a suitable home is found, the entire cluster will take flight and move to the new location, where it will begin building new wax combs, developing brood, and gathering pollen and nectar. A new colony is now formed. The virgin queens developing in the swarm cells in the original hive are attended by half of the workers that did not leave with the swarm. Approximately 16 days later, the new virgin queens begin to emerge. They chew through their wax capping and they are greeted by nurse bees who are very excited to meet their new queen. Typically, the first queen to emerge will sting the other queens in their cells and kill them in order to assume the role as new queen for the colony. On occasion, multiple virgins emerge at the same time and then fight to the death to see who will be the ruler of the colony. After a few days, the virgin will take flight to find drones to mate with in order to begin the process of egg and rebuilding the workforce in the colony. The virgin queen will fly to a drone congregation area and mate in flight with up to 20 drones. After mating, the drones die and the virgin queen returns to her original hive to commence egg-laying. She can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day and never leaves the hive until it's time for her to swarm. Once the virgin queen is mated, the process then starts all over again, and it's not uncommon for a colony to swarm again in the same season. If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up, and if you want to learn more about bees, subscribe to our channel.
