Purchasing a bee hive for the first time can be nerve wracking; What if I get stung, what if they swarm, do they have a disease and so on. For new beekeepers, it is often helpful to gain a little insight into what goes on inside a hive. Here is a quick guide:
Bees are remarkably intelligent and have an organised hive in action beneath that lid. Above all else, it is important to remember not to disturb their day to day workings as much as possible. Bees rely on their queen and the pheromone that she gives off. It is this pheromone that keeps all of the other female bees' ovaries from developing. The pheromone that keeps all of the bees satisfied with the queen's presence. Without this, the bees will likely start to swarm, since they believe that the queen is no longer there. Additionally, with a lack of pheromone, the worker bees' ovaries would start to develop and there would suddenly be a group of pseudo queens, laying irregularly and without male sperm resulting in only drone comb. With the hive's population of worker bees decreasing, there will be no nurse bees caring for the growing grubs, cleaning the hive, or storing honey leading to the eventual starvation, depopulation and overall death of the hive.
Fortunately, there are few ways in which pheromone will cease to be present in your hive. The first reason is: The Queen. If your queen is failing, becoming too old, or is not there, resulting in a lack of pheromone from the queen and the capped brood.
Secondly, overpopulation of the hive, results in the pheromone not being transferred (via tongue) to all of the bees on the outer reaches of the hive, furthest away from the queen. This is the one of the most common reasons as to why your hive will experience a swarm.
