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was outside working and my ears perked up. It’s not often one gets to witness the phenomenon actually occurring. One of my hives swarmed. I heard it before I saw it. The loud hum of the bees getting ready to take off is hard to miss. As I walked closer to my hives, there it was. A cyclone of what must have been nearly 1,000 bees — if not more — swirling 50 feet up into the air. Disconcerting but also mesmerizing.

A swarm can be made of up to a couple thousand honey bees, all searching for a new place to call home. A natural process of the hive that can occur between April and June. It’s usually a sign of a healthy hive and an essential part of their reproduction process.

The swarm consists of a queen and a group of worker bees, including a number of scouts who head out before to look for a new home. Once a hive makes the move to swarm, they usually land somewhere close to their former hive to let the queen rest before the long flight, making it an ideal time to try and catch them.

That’s not what happened to me. The swarm did land “somewhat” close. A pine tree, 100 feet up in the air with no way of getting to them. There I was, standing at the base of this tree, promising them the moon if they came back to me. It didn’t work.

They were gone within the hour. Off to bigger adventures. Many times, people are able to catch a swarm. Then there are times when it’s just not possible. That’s just the life of keeping bees. Hopefully one of my beekeeping neighbors found them and was able to give them a new hive to call home.

There are signs a hive will swarm and I was able to confirm which of my hives swarmed when I checked on them later that evening. One of the Carniolan hives had made several new queen cells at the bottom of one of the frames; a sure sign a swarm is soon to follow.

If caught early enough, you can split the hive to keep the swarm from happening. I didn’t catch them early enough. Not this time around. But it sure was a sight to see, their inaugural flight out into the unknown.

Reach Miriah at [email protected].