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Why do Bees Swarm?
Swarming is perfectly natural and is no cause for alarm. A new honey bee colony is formed when the queen bee leaves the hive with a large group of worker bees, to look for a new or more suitable home.
A swarm of bees is awesome to witness and can sometimes frighten people, though the bees are usually not aggressive at this stage. They are busy looking for a new home for the queen and have no hive to defend. This does not mean that bees from a swarm will not attack if they perceive a threat; however, most bees only attack in response to intrusions against their hive.
During the first year of a queen's life the colony has little incentive to swarm, unless the hive is very crowded. During her second spring, however, she seems to be programmed to swarm. Without beekeeper "swarm management" in the second year, the hive will cast a "prime swarm" and may cast one to five "after swarms." The old queen will go with the prime swarm, and other swarms will be accompanied by virgin queens.
Beekeepers try to anticipate swarming and assist the bees to reproduce in a more controlled fashion by "splitting hives" or making "nucs."(A small number of bees 2-3 thousand with a queen usually housed in a nuc box with only 5 frames)
Old fashioned beekeeping depended upon the capture of swarms to replenish beekeeper colonies and early swarms were especially valued. An old English poem says:
A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon
A swarm of bees in July isn't worth a fly
Swarm clusters, hanging off of a tree branch, will move on and find a suitable nesting location in a day or two.
If you see a swarm of bees you should contact your nearest bee keeping association, or your local council should have a list of bee keepers that offer a swarm collection service. Most bee keepers would make a charge for removal of a swarm from your property.