Sunday, January 30, 2005
SWARMS ARE FUN!!
Anyone who keeps bees will eventually have to deal with swarms. Bee swarms are simply nature's way of reproducing hives and they usually happen in the May-June period when hives are increasing the numbers of bees in the hive. What happens is that the number of bees increases to the point where there is not enough room in the hive for the honey or for all the bees. At one point, the queen gives of pheremones which cause the bees to prepare to swarm. Several bee eggs will be fed royal jelly so they can become queen cells and eventually hatch into queens.
Once the queen cells are ready, the queen with half the bees will leave the hive in a large swarm. The worker bees will gorge themselves with honey which they use to fuel their trip and to provide stores for the new hive. These swarming bees are said to be too full to sting, however, they are pretty intimidating.
The swarm will alight onto a tree or post near the beeyard. From that place they will send out scouts who will search for a new home. They may stay on their temporary location for several hours until a scout bee returns with news of a new location. They then all leave at once and make their way to their new home where work begins on new comb for honey storage and brood.
Beekeepers are aware of the tendency to swarm and will look for swarm cells which are an indication that swarming will take place soon. As a beekeeper, I have captured many swarms. The trick is to have an empty hive box available with some used drawn comb. The bees can bee simply lifted off the post with a large can or piece of cardboard and dumped into the new hive. If they are on a branch, they can easily be shaken off the branch with a jerk and they will all fall into the new hive.
The important thing about hiving swarms is to catch the queen. Once you have the queen, the bees will all follow into the hive. Nothing is neater than watching thousands of bees marching into a new hive.
What do you do if you find a swarm around your home? Call the closest beekeeper and he will probably come and remove the swarm from its perch. If you observe a swarm, you are lucky because very few people have actually seen a swarm. Keep your distance and enjoy this interesting spectacle of nature!
# posted by Ed Gagnon : 5:00 PM
