What hours of the day are bees most active?

When honey bees swarm, they say “whoopee”!

Swarming is a bee colony’s idea of success. It’s a sign of a prosperous population and strong growth. There are so many bees that the hive now needs to divide in two.

You might even congratulate yourself as a beekeeper on your flourishing colony 🙂

But losing a swarm of bees is unfortunate. After all… You don’t want to lose all those wonderful honey-producing bees!

This is why beekeepers need all the clues they can get to help anticipate swarms. And take measures to keep their bees.

Understanding what time bees swarm is a valuable bit of knowledge.

The same goes for other moments when they might fancy doing a disappearing act.

Keep reading to find out more…

What time of day do bees swarm 

The most common time of day for swarms tends to be between mid-morning and mid-afternoon. But weather conditions can also affect this time because swarming usually happens in the warmer hours of the day. 

Morning is probably more likely than the afternoon if you want to further refine this timing. (Anecdotal reports suggest that beekeepers are often called about swarms in the morning than in the afternoon!)

But I’ve heard of bees swarming at different times outside of this range. For example, secondary swarms can still occur in the late afternoon.

When do bees usually swarm 

Time of day may not be the most reliable indicator.

Remember that prevailing weather conditions and temperature might be a better way of judging when bees decide to swarm.

Studies have shown that a bee’s ability to fly peaks at around 77°F (25°C). Higher and lower temperatures limit their flight performance. And if the temperature drops below 59°F (15°C), the bees’ flight range is often reduced to distances under 300 feet (about 100m).

So cool weather isn’t favored by swarmy bees.

Depending on where you are and your local climate, bee swarms can happen within a wide range of times. 

Maybe don’t try sitting outside your hives waiting for it to happen 🙂

How long does a bee swarm last? 

After swarming, bees gather nearby for several hours to a few days. After that, it depends on how long it takes for scout bees to find an acceptable new location for the colony. 

Emerging bees like this have gorged themselves on honey before leaving the hive because they need to take some resources with them. But this will not last forever, so bees would prefer to find a suitable new location sooner rather than later.

Do bees swarm before a storm?

Stormy weather and hot sultry conditions can sometimes be a precursor to swarming. I’ve heard of many beekeepers experiencing swarms when temperature and humidity rise, and the colony swarms before it rains.

Perhaps the “calm before the storm” when it’s not windy is also a favorable event.

Do bees swarm in the rain?

I’ve never heard of bees swarming in the rain. Rain is not something bees tend to enjoy (who can blame them). Flying conditions are often more complicated when it’s rainy.

If it’s cloudy and rainy, you can relax… You probably won’t get a swarm today!

Do bees swarm every year?

Bees do not necessarily swarm every year. For example, if the queen is young, especially in her first year of laying, the colony is unlikely to swarm.

Do bees swarm at night?

A swarm of bees at night is very unlikely. Honey bees are diurnal, meaning they only actively forage during daylight. 

Most bees can’t fly at night. They can crawl! But that probably isn’t very efficient for collecting nectar!

What time of year do bees swarm?

The most common period of the year that bee colonies swarm is from late spring to mid-summer. The months of May, June, and July are the most usual. At this time, the weather is warm enough for mating flights.

Beekeepers have a proverbial saying about swarming dating back to the 17th century. Actually, it’s more of a rhyme…

It goes something like this:

“A swarm of bees in May 

is worth a load of hay; 

a swarm of bees in June 

is worth a silver spoon; 

but a swarm of bees in July 

is not worth a fly!”

The logic to this little proverb is that early swarms are more profitable to the beekeeper than a swarm late in the season. There is still enough forage and nectar for the bees to make you a good load of honey in May and most of June. But in July, it’s probably too late.

A late swarm may also be unfavorable for the new colony. A swarm has low food reserves and has to build up from scratch. So if this happens late in the season when forage starts to run short, the new colony could suffer. 

Therefore the most typical swarm season is from May to July.

Of course, the key is swarm prediction, prevention, and control. If you read the signs correctly, a good beekeeper will lose less bees. 

So what’s the possibility of swarming another season?

Do bees swarm in the spring?

Spring is a perfect time for honey bees to choose to swarm. Although this is more likely to happen toward the end of spring. This means colonies have had time to increase their numbers.

One of the principal reasons bees swarm is overcrowding in the hive. To achieve these conditions, the bee population has to grow significantly.

Your local climate and seasonal weather will have a significant impact on this. For example, suppose you’re having an early flowering season and bees start to get active. In that case, swarms may happen earlier than usual.

Do bees swarm in the fall?

Swarms in the fall are still quite common events. So even though this isn’t the typical “swarm season,” you’ll find many beekeepers who’ve had this happen.

Nevertheless, this isn’t the most opportune moment for them to break away!

The chances of colony survival are reduced at this time of year. After all, they need to build up new nectar, and pollen stores, which is difficult as the fall turns into winter and flowering plants disappear.

As a rule, the earlier it happens in the year, the better.

Do bees swarm in the winter?

Winter is the least likely time of the year to see swarming behavior in bees. During this season, bee populations have dropped significantly, and there are no drone bees for mating. The remnant colony needs to produce a new queen, and she needs to mate for the colony to survive.

The overall colony’s situation isn’t set up for swarming.

Conclusion: When do honey bees swarm?

If you were, to sum up, the most favorable time for bees to “decide” to swarm, then given all the average conditions, I would say it is this:

Bees tend to swarm on nice, calm, warm sunny days, from mid-morning to early afternoon, and between May and July.

But remember… There are plenty of exceptions to the rule 🙂

With new beekeepers entering the craft every day, this is an important question to answer. After all, you don’t want to disturb the “flow” of your colony too much! Hopefully this article has provided some interesting information about the secret life of bees and may even (hopefully) help you learn more about your own bees.

Bees often get up to work at sunrise, when their habitat is still damp and the flowers still have wet pollen. This is common among foragers as they seek out pollen and nectar. Meanwhile, most of the other bees working in the hive have no set sleep pattern.

In case you didn’t know, there are different types of bees in a hive, so some tend to work different hours than others. Since foraging bees can only see clearly in good light, they usually work tirelessly from sunrise to sunset.

Read the article: Do Bees Sleep? Do Bees Sleep In Flowers?

Why You Should Follow A Bees Work Schedule?

Most people don’t think twice about seeing a bee fly by, but there’s a lot going on underneath those little fluffy bodies we’re not necessarily familiar with. You don’t want to be surprised by the colony in your hive, so it’s best to understand and address bee “off days” to increase your productivity. As beekeepers, this is an important part of our job!

Knowing these “off-peak” times allows you to do more of the main work on your hives during these times to minimize your impact on bees and the comfort of your home. I know it’s not always possible for busy beekeepers, but it’s definitely something to watch out for.

Bees are known for being hardworking, so you’d think they’re always busy. Yes, they are busy pollinating plants and providing us with honey and beeswax, but you might be surprised to learn that bees actually have some downtime.

Read the article: How To Start Beekeeping? (A Complete Guide To Beekeeping)

What Time Do Bees Get Up?

When do bees get up? Do they follow our usual working hours as humans, or are they only other working hours that they follow?

As we briefly mentioned above, there are different types of bees in a hive because bees (much like humans in a road office) play a fixed role in their own colony. These different bees work at different times depending on their roles.

So the truth is that the swarms are always working 24 hours a day, except in winter when they go dormant when the weather is too cold for them. This means that bees are tireless workers, always working 24 hours a day. However, they will take breaks from time to time, or when they have done what they have to do.

So bees even have different sleep times depending on their role. Think of it as bees follow different shifts to ensure the hive is always running 24/7. However, while this is common for the various worker bees in the hive because they do not follow a fixed sleep pattern, forager bees tend to be different.

Foraging bees leave the hive in search of pollen and nectar from various nearby plants so they can bring this valuable prey back to the hive. Unlike other bees, foragers bees working hours because they need to make sure they are working in optimal conditions. That means the weather needs to be warm enough for them, and there’s enough sunlight to see where they’re going. Therefore, foraging bees work best when there is daylight.

Going back to our point, foraging bees start their work the moment there is enough sunlight to forage. This means they usually get up to work as soon as the sun rises, when they already have enough sunlight and warmth.

Also, at sunrise, the flowers are still moist and the nectar and pollen are still fresh. So foraging bees try to take advantage of this, waking up as soon as the sun rises and collecting pollen while it’s still fresh.

Read the article: Does Honey Freeze? What Happens When You Freeze Honey?

When Bees Are Most Active?

Bees are most active usually in the early afternoon, when the sun has peaked and is slowly setting. As night approaches seems to be driving our bees a little crazy, and they’re all buzzing about trying to get as many things done as possible.

While the morning hours can seem busy, most beekeepers will tell you that the early afternoon is the real deal when it comes to hive activity.

Conversely, bee activity is expected to drop significantly at night (sometimes as early as 4pm).

With this in mind, you can plan your large beekeeping business to best suit your bees.

What Time Of Day Do Bees Usually Swarm?

If you think this is all a beekeeper needs to worry about, you are wrong!

When we talk about foraging bees leaving the hive to collect pollen and nectar from nearby plants and flowers, we usually see them very rarely because most foraging bees don’t often gather together or even form colonies. But what about the swarms of bees we often see on TV? What is the purpose of this occurrence? What time of day do bees usually swarm?

If you haven’t seen a bee colony, this is a group of bees that can easily contain thousands of different bees. A bee colony includes not only the foragers, but all the different species of bees, and possibly even the queen bee herself. The reason for this is that bees can spread through swarms and so preserve the existence of bees.

Colonies form when some of the bees in a given colony leave the hive and the colony itself, usually to find new places to build new hives. When the bees swarm, they usually leave “in groups”, leaving only a small part of the old colony in the old hive. Whoever is lucky or unlucky to stay, choose a new queen now and raise her. This usually happens when the old hive becomes too small to accommodate the growing colony population.

For those wondering when a swarm occurs, bees typically swarm in the second half of spring and the first half of summer. Then they realized that the old hive had grown and they needed to find a new home as soon as possible so they could build their new hive before the cold autumn started.

As for when bees typically swarm, swarms typically occur during warmer times of the day, such as before noon. This is because conditions are best for bees to be able to fly and observe efficiently. So if you want to avoid a swarm of bees, it’s best to be careful when the weather is at its warmest.

Read the article: What Happens When You Add Honey To Hot Tea? Does Honey Lose Nutrients?

What Time Do Bees Go Back To The Hive?

Back to our foraging bees, who tirelessly search for pollen and nectar for the hive all day long, these bees often go back and forth from the hive in multiple rounds to discard the raw materials and food they have collected. If you thought DHL was efficient in making multiple deliveries, you haven’t seen it 🙂

However, when they finally return to the hive and go to sleep, the foraging bees are done about an hour before sunset, because that’s when they realize the sun is finally going down and they need to make sure to get back to the hive while there’s still daylight.

Bees don’t have an exact sense of time, but they can tell when the sun is going down because they use infrared vision. By using their advanced vision and associated powers, these bees can tell when to return to their hive. Bees have this remarkable ability to sense even the tiniest changes in the ambient light in which they fly! When they noticed the light was starting to dim, they had to go home before it got too dark to see them.