At EAS we had a chance to watch an actual (artificial) swarm up close and 
personal with Tom Seeley as the bees decided where to move from their 
clustering place.  We also heard several talks on how bees make group 
decisions. I have some pictures at
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/articles/thursday_august_6th.htm

I think the process applies to beekeepers, too.  Some dance more boldly and 
more often, others dance less and less.  When a critical number of recruits 
are convinced, the whole group moves.  BEE-L, and other such list and forums 
are like the comb where the dancing takes place.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/April06/swarm.quorum.ssl.html

Also, see
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature5/text2.html
(about halfway down the page)

and
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/211/23/i 

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