Every spring as a queen bee increases her rate of laying and a hive becomes overcrowded, a colony will attempt to swarm as a natural way to propagate. They will begin by creating a new queen which will take the place of the old queen as she departs with a portion of the bees to start a new colony elsewhere. To prevent swarming, beekeepers split the hive and introduce a new queen to one of the colonies. We have just finished a number of splits on our hives that survived the winter. The splits are well on their way and nearly ready for honey supers (boxes) to be added.