Enviroment and swarming

[DRAKOS]

Let’s say that, we keep our hives in deep south, where the swarming season is in March and the swarming fever has passed in June. If we move these hives , in June, to a much northern place , where the swarming season is in July, is it possible for these hives to swarm then? Has anyone experienced something like this?

[Rader Sidetrack]

I don't move hives around the country, so I have not experienced the scenario you pose. However, consider that swarming may not be tied to the calendar specifically, but perhaps more to conditions that sometimes coincide with the calendar. In particular, consider this chart posted by MattDavey in another thread:

To summarise the processes leading up to swarming, this is what I've got so far:

Excess incoming nectar

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Insufficient overhead storage space AND/OR a band of capped honey above the brood nest

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----- Causes backfilling of the brood nest

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----- Causes reduction of space for the queen to lay

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----- Causes less open brood

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----- Causes excess Nurse bees

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----- Causes extra feeding of larvae

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----- Causes Queen cells

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----- Causes house bees to be used as storage tanks

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----- Causes wax builders to develop

So "Maintaining a hole beside the brood nest" is working on the wax building process.

It gives the queen more space to lay in, continuing to extend the brood nest. It also reduces the nectar in the brood nest by the bees using it to make wax.

(Click the blue arrow in the quote box to see the original thread.)

So in view of Matt's chart, swarming can occur when the right conditions occur, and that can be over a period of many months, particularly if the hives have a longer flow than usual (by moving them around).