What happens to a colony during the process of cyclic swarming?

In the process of cyclic swarming, a portion of the colony leaves the established hive to establish a new colony elsewhere. This occurs as part of the natural reproductive strategy of honeybees. During swarming, the parent colony develops a new queen, allowing the original hive to continue its existence while a subset of the worker bees, along with the old queen, departs to find a suitable location to create a new colony. This behavior is essential for the species' propagation and is usually triggered by factors such as crowding within the hive and the availability of resources.

In contrast, the other choices do not accurately describe the dynamics of cyclic swarming. While some bees may become more defensive occasionally, this does not characterize the swarming process itself. The immediate takeover by a new queen is also not representative of the initiation of a swarm; rather, the existing queen typically leaves with the swarm initially before a new queen is raised in the original colony. Lastly, it is not the case that all bees would migrate to a different hive, as this would disregard the significant portion of bees that remain in the original colony to foster its continuity.