Swarm that fails to settle into bivouac cluster after leaving colony; cluster that remains for a short time, then workers drift back to original hive, usually within minutes to an hour.
Failure to swarm also occurs with rearing of multiple queens though without swarm departure and queen cells are destroyed.
Swarming involves multiple weeks of preparation, including queen weight loss and queen cell construction prior to swarm emergence. Swarm emergence, where 30–70% of the adult bees leave the parent hive, is completed very quickly (within 10 minutes). The flying bees coalesce in a large, loosely organized, oval-shaped mass of flying bees to cluster (bivouac) often within sight of the original hive.
If a queen from the swarming colony does not join the swarm, the temporary cluster site is abandoned, and the bees fly back to their original colony. The queen may crawl on the ground in front of the hive or underneath the hive. Without queen presence, the swarm may abandon the temporary bivouac site within minutes (usually less than an hour) and return to the hive form which they emerged. The workers may appear reluctant to reenter and settle at the hive entrance.
Colonies that initially fail to swarm likely will attempt to swarm again later the same day or the next one, with one or more newly emerged virgin queens. If the queen still is unable to fly after repeated swarm attempts, she disappears (possibly due to worker balling behavior), and the colony may swarm with one or more emerging virgin queens.
In some instances, queen rearing of what appear to be swarm cells is aborted (cells destroyed) with no swarm division.
Caron DM and Connor LJ. 2022. Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping, Third Edition, Chapter 10. Wicwas Press, Kalamazoo, MI, US. 480 pages.
Grozinger C, Roberts J, and Mattila HA. 2013. From molecules to societies: Mechanisms regulating swarming behavior in honey bees (Apis spp.). Apidologie 45 (3): 327–346. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-013-0253-2
Collison C. 2018. A Closer Look: Swarming Behavior. Bee Culture. Accessed 2023. https://www.beeculture.com/a-closer-look-20/
