But the behaviour of the bees is as topsy-turvy as the weather. While one hive is full, the second is pretty empty and the bees are trying to swarm by creating lots of new drones and queens in queen cups. Swarming is a natural process that occurs at certain times throughout the year and allows new colonies to be formed from a single hive. It’s a process that beekeepers are always looking out for and trying to avoid because allowing a colony to swarm can mean losing up to 60% of the population in the hive. The tell-tale signs are the production of new queens and a high proportion of drones (male bees). This would be a major setback in honey production, and reduced bee numbers in the hive make the colony more vulnerable to collapse. We would normally expect swarming to happen later in the spring/early summer. To stall them for now, we have removed the developing queens in their queen-cups. Paul’s bee-keeping mentor Chris Wells is coming to the farm this week to assess what’s going on and take further steps to prevent the hives from swarming.