When the brood nest gets congested with lots of workers, the workers create more queens
- Two queens typically won't live in the same hive
Typically the existing queen will leave once the new queen cells are capped.
- When the hive swarms, lead workers secrete a pheromone that workers and the queen follow
- About half the colony leaves with the queen
- This is a SWARM (on a branch it's called a cluster)
It's True! The picture is of a brood frame. You can see the covered cells that currently contain pupae.
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Tip Bees that have space to expand into tend not to swarm.
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