Question, If bees swarm, do they all leave that hive? OR do some stay. Thanks Also I guess now is good time in west central pa to put on a super...I just got a bee suit.
swarming is natures way of splitting a healthy hive. the old queen leaves with the swarm and a new queen hatches and (hopefully) mates and carries on. that's why it's important to pay attention to the amount of room in your hive and the appearance of swarm cells.
A swarm will take 40 to 60% of the bees in a hive out.
About half of the bees will leave with the old queen. But you can then have one or more secondary swarms with virgin queens and additional bees leaving the hive.
Hey I thank all you guys for information, still learning!
Yep, most all of us are still learning. I went from 1 deep bc to 2 deep and had a super on and still had a swarm. I was a small swarm, and the ones still here are doing fine.
Joe