The decision-making and mechanics of honey bee swarm formation

In late spring and early summer, honey bee colonies may begin the process of swarming, in which the colony will send two-thirds of its population, including the mother queen, to form a new hive. The bees assemble themselves into a temporary hanging cluster for anywhere from a few hours to several days, protecting the queen and young bees while scouts identify a new nest location. While the house-hunting process has been studied, the process of formation has remained overlooked.
In this work, we present both experimental results and computational modeling on the process of swarm formation to address questions of decision-making as bees join the swarm and the mechanical properties of bees within the swarm. Using agent-based modeling methods, we identify local decision-making rules that reproduce the experimentally observed behaviors in swarm formation. Understanding the behavior of honey bees during swarming lays the groundwork for improved control strategies for multi-agent robotic systems.