Skip to content
Beehive icon
The Beelistener
Where learning from the honey bee is key
  • Home
  • About
  • Published Articles
  • Podcasts and Radio Programmes
  • Privacy Policy

Tag: secondary swarms

The Significance of Secondary Swarms and What Science Says

June 12, 2026 Ann Chilcott 6 Comments

History of Swarming Most beekeepers are quite familiar with swarming. Some dread swarm season and fear for their reputation as…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: Bee behaviour, Bee Health, bees, Biology for beekeepers, queen bees, Secondary swarms, Swarm behaviour Filed under: honey bee biology, honey bee reproductive swarms, queen duels, queen elimination, secondary swarms

Friends

  • American Bee Journal
  • Bartek Maleta (Bee Brotherhood)
  • Bartek Maleta (Blog – Polish language)
  • Bartek Maleta (Fort Knox – English version)
  • BBKA News
  • Bee Culture
  • Bee Interested
  • BeeCraft
  • Beekeepers Quarterly
  • Beekeeping Today Podcast
  • Bees for Development
  • Honey Bee Obscura Podcast
  • Hudson Valley Bee Supply
  • Imagessays
  • Inside The Hive TV
  • Nairn & District Beekeepers Association
  • Northern Bee Books
  • Scientific Beekeeping (UK)
  • Scientific Beekeeping (US)
  • Scottish Beekeepers Association
  • Steve Donohoe: The Walrus and the Honey Bee.
  • The Lochness Honey Company
  • Westart Apiaries
Photo of Ann Chilcott, owner and author of Beelistener.co.uk

Contact Info

Ann Chilcott
Scottish Expert Beemaster
Email: annbuchananchilcott@gmail.com

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Subscribe to the Beelistener Blog

You’ll be sent an email when a new blog post goes up.

Donations

Please consider making a donation, if this blog has helped you in any way. All donations go towards the cost of running this website, like hosting and technical support, and is greatly appreciated! Articles are written on a voluntary basis, and all research work is a labour of love.


Recent Posts

  • The Significance of Secondary Swarms and What Science Says
  • June Challenges
  • Beekeeping in May
  • A Planned Brood Break
  • Wasps: learn to love them not hate them by David Hennessey

Recent Comments

  • Ann Chilcott on Beekeeping in Seychelles: Part 2. Vanilla Pollination and Colony Removal.
  • Ann Chilcott on The Significance of Secondary Swarms and What Science Says
  • Ann Chilcott on The Significance of Secondary Swarms and What Science Says
  • Ann Chilcott on The Significance of Secondary Swarms and What Science Says
  • Birgit Rudolph on Beekeeping in Seychelles: Part 2. Vanilla Pollination and Colony Removal.

Archives

Categories

  • A Beekeeper's biography.
  • Absconding
  • All about nectar and composition
  • Apiary hygiene.
  • Apiary tips
  • around the world
  • Artificially Raised Queens
  • Asian hornet
  • Australian beekeeping
  • Bailey Comb Change
  • bait hives
  • Bait Hives.
  • Bee behaviour
  • Bee facts and folklore
  • Bee Farming
  • Bee Forage
  • Bee Forage.
  • Bee Health
  • Bee hunting
  • Bee Nutrition Research
  • bee removal
  • bee rescue
  • Bee Watching
  • beekeeping
  • Beekeeping at the heather.
  • Beekeeping Book Sellers
  • Beekeeping Business Set-up,
  • Beekeeping documentary film
  • Beekeeping Education
  • Beekeeping Equipment
  • Beekeeping for Rural Development
  • Beekeeping history
  • Beekeeping in a heatwave
  • Beekeeping in Ancient Rome
  • Beekeeping in Australia
  • Beekeeping in Canada
  • Beekeeping in Climate Change
  • Beekeeping in Ethiopia
  • Beekeeping in North America
  • Beekeeping in Scotland
  • Beekeeping knowledge & skills sharing.
  • Beekeeping on Seychelles
  • Beekeeping podcasts.
  • Beekeeping presentations.
  • beekeeping website link
  • bees
  • Bees for Development
  • Bees in outer space
  • Bees of the world
  • Bees of the world.
  • Beeswax
  • Beginner beekeeper equipment
  • Beginning beekeeping
  • Bioenergetic Stategies in Honey Bees.
  • Biology for beekeepers
  • Biology of Winter Bees,
  • Birch Syrup
  • Birds
  • Bivouac Lures
  • Book Preview
  • book review
  • Botany for beekeepers
  • British Trees
  • BroodMinder monitoring sensors
  • Bumble bee mimics.
  • Bumble Bees
  • Busting beekeeping myths
  • Butterflies
  • Candle making
  • Carpenter bees
  • Catching Swarms
  • children
  • Children in Beekeeping.
  • Choosing a hive
  • Choosing bees
  • Choosing Frames.
  • Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus.
  • Colony Assessments
  • Comb building
  • Comb Construction
  • Comb trapping
  • Communication in honey bees.
  • Cooking for Beekeepers
  • Cooking with Honey
  • Creating a pollinator friendly garden.
  • Creating Space In A Hive
  • Dancing honey bees
  • Darwinian beekeeping
  • Death's -head hawkmoth
  • Defensive Colonies
  • Deformed wing virus
  • Demaree method of swarm prevention/control
  • Destroying a Colony of Honey Bees
  • developing varroa resistance
  • diseases
  • Double-walled hives
  • Drone Behaviour
  • Drone biology and physiology.
  • Drone hyperactivity and Mating Flights.
  • Earth Education
  • Emergency management of serious bee sting reaction.
  • Emergency queen cells
  • Engaging beginner beekeepers.
  • equipment
  • Extracting and using propolis as a medicine
  • Failing queens
  • Feeding honey bees.
  • Filling an observation hive
  • flies
  • Food Safety
  • Forming a beekeeping Association
  • Foulbrood inspections.
  • Free-living honey bees
  • from around the world
  • Fungi
  • gardening
  • Grooming dance
  • Harvesting honey
  • Harvesting pollen
  • Health & Safety in Beekeeping
  • Heat shielding bees
  • Herbicides
  • Himalayan balsam
  • Hive Autopsy
  • Hive Debris
  • Hive insulation.
  • Holistic gardening to protect the environment
  • honey
  • honey and longevity
  • Honey Bee Behaviour.
  • Honey Bee Communications
  • Honey bee evolution
  • honey bee evolution & resistance
  • Honey Bee Genetic Diversity
  • Honey bee homeostasis.
  • Honey bee immunity
  • Honey bee lineages
  • Honey bee mandibles
  • Honey bee nutrition
  • Honey bee pests
  • Honey bee signals
  • Honey Bee Vaccine
  • honey bee viruses.
  • Honey bee vision.
  • honey bees
  • Honey Fraud
  • Honey Granulation
  • Hover Flies
  • How Honey Bee Tongues Work.
  • How to give presentations to beekeeping groups
  • How to set up a bee buddying system
  • hummingbird hawkmoth
  • Hygienic behaviour in honey bees.
  • Increasing honey production
  • Information sharing in beekeeping.
  • Inquiry-based Learning
  • insect iridescent virus
  • Insect watching
  • Insects
  • Insulated hives
  • Integrated Pest Management
  • Interactive beekeeping course.
  • international
  • Ivy bee.
  • Leafcutter Bees.
  • Learning Styles.
  • Lipids & Fats
  • Making foundation
  • Making pollen slides
  • Making protective cuffs
  • Malta
  • Managing Nuclei
  • Marketing and labelling honey
  • Mason Bees
  • Mating Behaviour
  • Measuring pesticide toxicity & Harm
  • Measuring pesticide toxicity & harms
  • Meliponiculture
  • Microbiome
  • Microplastics & impact on honey bees
  • Microscopy for beekeepers.
  • Moth Guide
  • Moths
  • Native dark bees
  • Nature
  • nature based learning
  • Nectar Flow
  • Neonicotinoids & Sugar Beet.
  • Nest-Scout Bees.
  • North American Nature.
  • Observation Hive
  • Observation hive winter management
  • Organic farming
  • Organising beekeeping conferences.
  • other insects
  • Overwintering bees
  • Oxalic acid
  • Parasitic mite syndrome
  • Pesticide Action Network UK
  • Pesticides
  • Planning Varroa Treatments.
  • Plants & Insect protection.
  • plants for pollinators
  • Pollen
  • Pollen Identification
  • Pollination
  • Pollinators
  • Probiotics
  • Problem Wasps
  • Professor Tom Seeley Presentation
  • Propolis
  • Propolis Research
  • queen bees
  • Queen cells
  • Queen Failure
  • Queen marking with numbers.
  • Queen Rearing
  • Queenless colony
  • Reading the waggle dance
  • Recruiting Nectar Receivers
  • Regulating Nectar Receivers
  • Reliable YouTube Beekeeping Information.
  • Relocating bumble bee nest
  • Rendering Wax
  • Research
  • Resin collection
  • Risks associated with artificial bee feeds.
  • Rudolf Steiner Inspired Beekeeping
  • School Beekeeping.
  • Scientific Research on Queen Quality.
  • Secondary swarms
  • Selecting for hygienic traits
  • Sewing for beekeepers
  • Sharing Knowledge Internationally
  • Siting an apiary
  • Smokers
  • Social media in beekeeping
  • Solitary bee life cycle.
  • Spanish Bees
  • Starvation signs/
  • Stingless bees
  • Sugars in Honey
  • Supercedure
  • Supering
  • Supersedure
  • Swarm behaviour
  • swarm control
  • swarms
  • Taking bees to the heather
  • Tapping trees.
  • Tarland Bee Group
  • The art of smoking bees
  • The history of honey bees and progression to productive livestock
  • The risks around wired foundation.
  • Thermoregulation
  • Thoughtful Beekeeping
  • Training Apiary
  • Transporting bees
  • Tree Bumble Bees.
  • Trophallaxis
  • Tropilaelaps
  • Tropilaelaps research
  • UK Honey Regulations
  • Uncategorized
  • Understanding basic honey bee inheritance.
  • Using Brood Factories
  • Vairimorpha spp.
  • Vapor v Smoke for bees.
  • Varroa
  • Varroa Diet Updated
  • Varroa life cycle
  • varroa resistant bees
  • varroa testing
  • Varroa Treatment
  • Vertical Swarm Control
  • Wasps
  • Water Collection by Bees
  • Webinar
  • wild bees
  • Winter bee behaviour.
  • Winter Bees
  • World Bee Day.

Bee Cloud

apiary hygiene bait hives Bee behaviour Bee Farming beekeeping Beekeeping education Book review CBPV children in beekeeping Darwinian beekeeping Dr Humberto Boncristiani Feeding fondant Free-living honey bees Gardening for Pollinators harvesting honey Hive Insulation hives honey Honey bee communication honey bee nutrition honey bees InsideTheHive.TV monitoring varroa Nectar Flow Northern Bee Books observation hive Observation hive management piping signal Preparing bees for winter Professor Tom Seeley propolis Queen failure solitary bees Steve Riley swarm behaviour Swarm control swarms Thomas D. Seeley tropilaelaps Varroa Varroa monitoring varroa resistance wild bee colony wild bees wild bee tree
Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 The Beelistener