> From: Chris Conroy <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Continuation of species?
>
> Being that bees are social (colonial?) insects, I was wondering why honeybees do
> not have more of a tendency to swarm.  While the queen keeps laying eggs she is
> passing on her genes, but if the hive was to swarm and split, then there would
> be a greater chance of passing them on.  But swarming isn't as common an
> occurence as I would expect.
>
> Is this because swarming isn't seen as a desirable trait and has been "bred
> out"?  Do bees have a different strategy?  Or is it that beekeepers affect the
> bees by constantly "fiddling around" with the hives?
 
        If you just leave them alone they'll swarm like crazy. I was
always told that it's the bees natural instinct to swarm and it's the
beekeepers natural instinct to not let them.
 
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