Obtaining Bees

Part of Beekeeping

The first and most fundamental beekeeping challenge is obtaining your initial colonies. In the modern world, bees can be purchased as packages or nucleus colonies from commercial suppliers. In a post-collapse world, those options disappear. But bees themselves do not disappear — feral colonies occupy hollow trees, wall cavities, and rocky outcrops across most temperate and tropical landscapes. Getting your hands on those bees requires understanding how and when to find them.

The Beekeeper’s Advantage: Bees Want Homes

A key insight: when a swarm issues from a colony, the bees are in a vulnerable, homeless state. They are actively seeking a new cavity and will investigate any promising option. A prepared beekeeper does not hunt bees through the forest — they create attractive options and let swarming bees come to them.

This approach — bait hiving — is the most efficient and lowest-effort acquisition method available without commercial suppliers. But several others are valuable in combination.

Method 1: Capturing Natural Swarms

A swarm is a cluster of bees, typically 5,000 to 20,000 workers plus their queen, that has left a parent colony as part of the colony’s reproductive process. Swarms occur most commonly in spring (April-June in northern temperate climates), most commonly in the morning on warm, calm days.

Finding Swarms

Swarms cluster in a temporary bivouac site — a tree branch, fence post, building eave, or any convenient structure — while scouts search for a permanent home. The cluster looks like a hanging football or teardrop of bees, humming quietly. Most clusters settle within 50-100 meters of the parent colony and remain there for a few hours to a few days.

Where to look:

• Tree branches, especially at chest to head height (though they can cluster at any height)
• Fence posts and wire fences
• Under roof eaves and overhangs
• On vehicle bumpers and grills (bees occasionally choose very inconvenient spots)
• In low shrubs after cold, wet weather (bees land where they can when a storm catches them mid-flight)

How to know a swarm is happening:

• Listen for a rising roar from an established hive — many bees in flight sounds like rushing water
• A mass of bees streaming out of one location and lifting into the air
• A sudden increase in bee activity in an area — hundreds of bees flying in loose formation

Community network: In a rebuilding community, establish a simple alert system. Any member who sees a swarm cluster alerts the designated beekeeper. Most non-beekeepers will not interfere with a calm swarm cluster if they know someone is coming to collect it.

Collecting a Swarm

Equipment needed:

• A cardboard box, wooden box, or basket (minimum 20 liters)
• A cloth or board to cover the box
• Gloves and veil (optional — fresh swarms are rarely aggressive but stings can still happen)
• A ladder if the cluster is elevated

Procedure for an accessible cluster (below 3 meters):

1. Position your box directly below the cluster. Have someone hold it or rest it on a ladder.

2. Knock bees into box in one firm motion. If the cluster is on a branch, grasp the branch with both hands and give a sharp downward jerk. Most bees — including the queen — will fall directly into the box. If the cluster is on a flat surface, use a brush to sweep them in.

3. Invert the box (open face down) on the ground near where the cluster was. Leave a small gap (2-3 cm) at one edge for bees to enter and exit.

4. Watch for orientation flights. Within minutes, flying bees will start fanning at the gap, releasing Nasonov pheromone (orientation scent). This signals that the queen is inside. Remaining cluster bees will walk toward the box and enter.

5. If bees cluster again on the original spot rather than entering the box, the queen likely was not knocked in. Repeat the knock. Queens are hard to spot but are usually near the center of the cluster.

6. Wait until dusk when foragers have returned, then cover the gap completely and move the box to your prepared hive location.

Transferring swarm into hive:

1. Remove the hive roof and inner cover.
2. Remove half the bars or frames from the hive (create a large open space).
3. Invert the swarm box over the hive opening and shake firmly. Most bees will fall in.
4. Smoke gently to encourage stragglers downward.
5. Replace bars/frames slowly, crushing as few bees as possible.
6. Replace cover, leave entrance open.
7. Feed sugar syrup for the first 2-3 weeks — the swarm has no food stores and needs resources to build comb.

Swarm in a Difficult Location

Swarms on high branches require a long-handled collection device — a box on a pole, for instance, or a bag that can be raised over the cluster and then inverted.

Swarms inside hollow trees or building walls are not accessible for simple knock-in collection and require the techniques described in Bee Tree Transfer.

Method 2: Bait Hives (Swarm Traps)

A bait hive is an empty prepared cavity positioned to attract swarming bees. This is the most passive and efficient acquisition method available — set it up and let swarming colonies come to you.

See Bait Placement for detailed positioning and attraction strategies. Key points:

• Volume: 40 liters ideal (scouts strongly prefer this size — it matches their preferred tree cavity)
• Entrance: 10-20 cm², facing south or southeast
• Height: 3-5 meters off ground (scouts fly at tree branch height when scouting)
• Attractant: Lemongrass oil (a few drops on a cotton ball inside the cavity) mimics Nasonov pheromone — major improvement in capture rate
• Old comb: A small piece of drawn wax comb inside the trap dramatically increases attractiveness — bees use scent to identify previously occupied, bee-friendly spaces
• Timing: Position bait hives 2-4 weeks before expected swarm season. Check weekly.

Method 3: Bee Tree Relocation

Wild colonies in hollow trees can be relocated to managed hives. This is more labor-intensive than swarm capture but provides an already-established, laying-queen colony — much more resilient than a fresh swarm that must build from scratch.

See Bee Tree Transfer for the full procedure. This method requires either felling the tree or cutting a section of it, so it is typically reserved for trees that are already dead, dangerous, or being processed for other reasons.

Method 4: Cutout from Buildings and Structures

Feral colonies frequently establish in wall voids, attics, chimneys, and other enclosed spaces in buildings. These “cutouts” are more complex than swarm captures but provide established colonies.

When Cutouts Are Appropriate

A structural cutout is appropriate when:

• The colony is in a building being salvaged or demolished
• The colony has been in place for at least one full season (established brood nest and stores)
• You have access to the void — wall removal is possible

Basic Cutout Procedure

1. Seal all exits except the main entrance — identify secondary openings and plug them with cloth or foam in the evening when bees are inside.

2. Work in the morning before foragers leave, or late afternoon when most foragers have returned.

3. Open the void — remove wall board, siding, or structural material to expose the colony. Wear full protective gear; wall bees are typically defensive.

4. Smoke heavily and work calmly.

5. Locate and protect the queen — if you can find and contain the queen first, the rest of the colony can be brushed into a box and will follow.

6. Cut comb from the structure. Brood comb can be rubber-banded into empty frames and placed in your hive — worker bees will tend the brood even when the comb is repositioned. Honey comb can be harvested or placed on the side.

7. Brush all bees into a box.

8. Move to prepared hive — transfer brood comb first (banded into frames), then release bees over the top.

9. Seal the void thoroughly — residual honey scent will attract other colonies if not sealed.

Cutouts are challenging and time-consuming. They are worth the effort primarily for well-established colonies in structures being decommissioned anyway.

Method 5: Colony Division from an Established Beekeeper

If even one established managed colony exists in your community, colonies can be multiplied by division. A strong colony can be split into two, and with the right timing and technique, both halves develop into productive colonies within 4-6 weeks.

See Colony Division for the full procedure.

Timing of Acquisition

The season when you acquire bees determines how quickly the colony becomes productive.

Acquisition Time	Risk	Advantage
Early spring (pre-swarm season)	High — small colony, cold nights	Maximum time to build for summer harvest
Late spring (peak swarm season)	Low — swarms abundant, good weather	Excellent weather for comb building, summer ahead
Summer	Moderate — few swarms, but possible	Good foraging immediately available
Early autumn	High — insufficient time to build winter stores	Avoid unless you can feed heavily
Late autumn / winter	Very high — success requires substantial feeding	Only if no alternative

Best window: Capture swarms at the beginning of the swarming season for your climate. This gives the colony maximum time to establish before winter.

Evaluating Swarm Quality

Not all swarms are equal. A few indicators of swarm quality:

Signs of a healthy, promising swarm:

• Large cluster (>8,000 bees = roughly soccer ball sized) — larger swarms establish faster and more reliably
• Active, alert workers that fan and orient quickly after collection
• Swarm collected early in the swarm season — less likely to be an afterswarm with an unmated queen

Signs to be cautious about:

• Very small cluster (<4,000 bees, smaller than a softball) — afterswarm, may have an unmated or poorly mated queen
• Swarm that has been clustered for multiple days — scouts may have already rejected several sites; queen health uncertain
• Bees that are sluggish, crawling rather than flying — possible disease in the parent colony

First Steps After Acquisition

Regardless of how you obtained your colony:

1. Install in prepared hive immediately — do not delay; the swarm may abscond (depart spontaneously) if conditions are unsatisfactory

2. Feed sugar syrup — 1:1 sugar:water by weight for comb building stimulus (spring), 2:1 for stores building (autumn)

3. Inspect after 7 days — check for eggs and young larvae to confirm the queen is present and laying. If absent, take action immediately (combine with another colony or introduce a mated queen if available).

4. Inspect after 21 days — assess brood pattern, colony strength, and expansion. A healthy established colony should be covering 4-6 frames of brood by this point.

5. Do not harvest anything the first season — let the colony build strength, comb, and winter stores without interruption.

A swarm installed in late spring with good feeding and no interference can build a colony strong enough to overwinter successfully in most temperate climates. The following spring, it can produce its first harvestable surplus. This timeline — patience from spring to the following summer — is the foundation of sustainable beekeeping.