If you’ve gotten your beehive through its first winter in Colorado, congratulations! You’re about to have a second-year hive! With a second-year hive comes all new adventures in beekeeping, one of the most important of which is swarming. When a colony swarms, not only does a beekeeper lose their valuable, experienced queen, but other issues, such as a failure to produce a new queen or swarms moving into dangerous locations, can occur. It is in a beekeeper s best interest to learn how to artificially create a swarm by doing a split to prevent their bees from becoming a community nuisance. It is also beneficial for new beekeepers to learn about swarm behavior and how they can get themselves free bees by becoming a swarm catcher.  

In this workshop, we’ll learn all about swarms, including signs that a colony is going to swarm, how to prevent your hive from swarming, how to make more hives by making splits, and basic swarm catching techniques. 

Meet our bee expert:  Lorna McCallister is a biologist from Tampa, Florida. She studied wildlife biology with a minor in entomology at the University of Florida. She also completed her master’s degree at the University of Florida with a thesis on insect and avian pollinator communities in southern Africa. She learned beekeeping through a course at UF, the Tampa Bay Beekeepers Association, and interning with Butterfly Pavilion’s Bees for Elephants Project in Sri Lanka and Kenya. 

Pricing:  

• $40 Non-Member 
• $35 Member

• Recognizing Early Signs of Swarm Preparation 
• Importance of Swarm Prevention in Beehives 
• Artfully Creating Swarms through Hive Splits 
• Understanding Risks Associated with Natural Swarming 
•  The Impact of Losing an Experienced Queen in Swarming 
• Risks such as the Failure to Produce a New Queen and Choosing Unsafe Locations 
• Becoming a Swarm Catcher: Benefits and Free Bee Opportunities 
• Exploring the Fascinating World of Swarm Behavior 
• Classroom Lesson: Building Foundations in Beekeeping Knowledge