Post-Swarm Date Calculator
Did your hive recently swarm? Input the date that the (primary) swarm left, and then look below for information about the dates generated by the calculator.
| Calculated Date(s) | Event |
|---|
What Each Post-Swarm Milestone Means for Your Parent Hive
When a colony casts a primary swarm, the old queen typically departs right as the oldest swarm queen cells are capped on Day 8 or Day 9 of their development. Here is what happens inside the parent hive afterward:
Date virgin queen emerges (Days +7 to +8)
This is also the date that the hive may cast out a secondary swarm (meaning an after-swarm that contains a virgin queen), so be on the lookout for that or reduce excess swarm cells prior to this date.
Orientation flights (Days +11 to +13)
Your virgin queen will take a series of orientation flights on these days.
Queen mating flight window (Days +14 to +16)
Your virgin queen should go on her mating flight sometime within this 3-day window, weather permitting. Avoid moving the hive or changing anything about its appearance during this time.
Start of OA / Organic Mite 2-day treatment window (Days +19 to +20)
When a colony has swarmed, there will be a window of approximately 2 days when the hive has little to no capped brood. This is an ideal time to control mites by treating your hive organically.
Check colony for presence of eggs (Day +23)
The queen may begin laying before this date, but we suggest waiting until this date to start looking for eggs.
Combine with Queenright colony (Day +30)
If you still don’t see eggs by this date, we suggest introducing a mated queen or combining your hive with another colony to avoid laying workers.
Managing Swarmed Colonies & Baiting Swarms in Nigerian Apiaries
In West Africa’s tropical foraging calendar, strong colonies rapidly build congestion at the onset of major floral blooms (such as cashew, mango, locust bean, and shea). If you witness or suspect a primary swarm has left one of your Langstroth hives, do not panic—and above all, do not crush every queen cell in the parent hive thinking the old queen is still inside!
Instead, log the swarm date in our Post-Swarm Date Calculator, reduce excess swarm cells down to the two healthiest ripe cells on a single central frame (or use the extra queen-cell frames to make nucleus splits!), and wait calmly until Day +23 to verify your new laying queen.
