New Beginnings

It all starts with a swarm or a purchased package of bees. I’ve collected many swarms over the years and is one of the best ways to dip your toes into beekeeping as who can resist “free” bees. Strong honeybee colonies will swarm at least once per year, sometimes more if they are not managed by splitting or removing swarm cells, but it only takes one missed queen cell to lose half your colony.

As I begin to reconstruct my Apiary, I’m opting for Layens swarm traps from horizontalhive.com. While my entire life I’ve kept honeybees in Langstroth hives, after a lumbar fusion back surgery in 2020, I’m opting for horizontal hives—a claimed more natural way of beekeeping.

I am starting to place swarm traps and while I am buying new supplies, I’m hoping to catch a swarm passively here in Colorado Springs, CO to start the 2025 season.