Beekeeping Swarm Prevention

Swarming naturally occurs as a way for honey bees to reproduce more colonies away from the hive. Every year, during spring, a colony, with the queen, is most likely to decide to swarm, but it could happen anytime, especially if your bees may be having some problems with their living conditions.
Swarming poses as a problem because honey production drops down as the remaining colony attempts to recover while waiting for the new queen to emerge. Worse, if the new queen doesn't survive, it would be the end for that colony. No more honey production for that hive box.

Know the signs. Certain preparations are done by the colony before it decides to swarm. The queen would lay eggs on the queen cups, after which the worker bees would then build it up to become a queen cell. Swarm cells may then also be made. These are queen cells made to attempt swarming. You will find quite a number of these peanut-shaped cells at the bottom frames. There would be lesser eggs or none at all as the queen stops laying eggs in order to fly light for swarming.

Should they have swarmed already, you'll know as the number of bees will be obviously low. Only old larvae/capped broods and the queen cells will be left.

This can be prevented by a few precautions.

Remove all queen swarm cells. Be careful to identify that they are for swarming. Cells made for replacing the current queen due to weakness are called emergency cells and are located higher. If you remove these, you risk losing your queen with no replacement. If there's no upcoming queen, then they'll know and will eventually lose the impulse to swarm. You should also be sure to remove ALL swarm cells. Leaving even just one will not convince them to stop from swarming.

Introduce a new queen. Queens in their first years rarely decide to swarm. This may not come as an easy task, but you'll find the challenge worth it.

Maintain a suitable temperature. Make sure their place is well ventilated. Add a bird fountain or any source of water near their hive. Bees will make use of water as needed.

Avoid congestion. Take the initiative to provide more room before any overcrowding occurs. They are pretty stubborn and will swarm if they have decided to.

Make it a habit to check for swarming whether it is the season or not. It conditions you to become precautious and mindful not only of swarming, but also to other problems your bees may have.