June 16, 1988 - Summer & Swarming Season Are HereJune 16, 1988/The Suffolk Times/Page 13A
Sulasloftimer •. Swarming Season Are Here
By Paul Stoutenburgh
The swarming of bees is a natural
event that takes place whenever the hive
population becomes too great. All win-
ter the bees are kept alive by eating their
stored supply of honey. They do not
become dormant, like many other in-
sects, but cluster together to keep warm.
The ones on the outside move in as the
warm inner bees move to the outside.
Each takes its turn at buffeting the cold.
The mass centers on the egg - laying
queen.
When spring comes and nectar and
pollen are available from flowers, the
bees start their endless chore of collect-
ing. The queen starts laying eggs so the
hive will flourish. Worker bees live
only one to two months so they must
be replaced and an excess must be sup-
plied if the hive is to expand.
When this additional growth occurs,
there is no room in the hive. A new
fertilized queen is chosen and the excess
bees leave the hive forever. This is why
bees swarm, particularly in the spring.
It's the time beekeepers want to collect
bees. They now have a new fertilized
queen, many thousands of good young
workers and time to build a strong hive
before winter. Bee swarms taken later in
the year usually don't have enough time
to build up a supply of honey for the
winter and therefore are weak and much
less desirable than spring swarms.
Bees Go House Hunting
If the swarm is not taken and put into
a hive, scouts will travel into the coun-
tryside and search for a likely spot to set
up a new colony. Some homes are in-
vaded when the bees find a way into the
roof or attic. Old trees and even old,
turned -over sinks are used. Last winter I
got a hive of bees by picking up one of
those old stone sinks abandoned in the
woods. A good friend told me about it
and during the cold months when the
bees were inactive I lifted it up, slipped
a piece of plywood under it, put the
whole thing in my car and brought it
home. It rests in the orchard today and
the bees are as busy as can be.
Just last night I was called about an-
other hive from the same general area.
The procedure of collecting a hive is
quite simple, provided the location is
accessible. Sometimes bees swarm and
land on eaves of buildings or in a tree,
quite out of reach. In those cases, I let
them find their own new home, but if
they are low enough, as the one was last
night, I collect them.
When bees leave the organized hive,
they fly in a great churning mass. It's
quite something to see. By the way,
when they're at this swarming stage
they are usually quite harmless. Like
any run -away who is half smart, they
store up food before they leave home.
They gorge themselves with honey so
they can spend all their time together
and not have to go off searching for
food. Why swarming bees settle on a
certain branch, roof, or cave, no one
knows. I once collected a swarm that
had landed on a parking meter in a busy
Focus on
Nature
village. When bees congregate in a mass
they can be the size of a football or
more.
Large swarms can represent more
than 60,000 bees. The bees we got last
night were much smaller but clung
characteristically on a limb, forming a
cone shape.
One Got Away
To get the bees off the tree, I merely
snapped the branch off, climbed down
the stepladder and brought them to my
waiting hive. There were no gloves or
face protection, for they were perfectly
harmless and docile at that stage. I
shook them off into the hive box and
put the cover on.
All this was done at night so I
couldn't see how well I had done or if I
got them all. Evidently I missed one or
two. As I was getting the hive over to
the car I felt this thing climbing up my
leg. I'm pretty tolerant about such
things so I tried to shake it out, hoping
it would fall to the ground and out of
my way, but it only pressed its way
upward with more vigor. Well, there's a
limit to my tolerance and a limit to how
high I was going to let that bee climb!
Finally I said enough's enough and I
gave one more vigorous shake. I must
have looked like an Indian doing a war
dance. As I said earlier, bees that swarm
are usually quite docile and this one was
fine until I gave him the war-dance
treatment. All bees can be pressed so far
and then Zing! I was stung.
When bees sting you their stinger
breaks off and the bee dies. The impor-
tant thing is to get the stinger out as
soon as possible. This is done simply
by scraping your finger nail across the
place the bee left his stinger imbedded.
This I did and in a short time I forgot
about my bee sting. I then took my
pants off and turned them inside out,
just to make sure he'd had no friends
with him.
I've been stung many times, particu-
larly when handling bees in the hive
roughly or in cloudy, cool weather. Bees
pay little attention to you if the sun is
out and they are busy gathering honey.
They have more important things to do
than to stop and sting you. Most people
who get stung either have a bee get tan-
gled in their hair accidentally. They try
frantically to get it out, thereby anger-
ing the bee. Or they get one in their
clothing like the one I had last night.
Sometimes you'll actually sit or lean on
a bee. After all, in most cases the bee is
just trying to protect himself and is not
looking for a fight. Some strains of
bees are more ornery than others and the
beekeeper tries to keep the more docile
in his apiary.
A Slow Drive Home
We put the beehive in the back of the
car, plugged up their entrance and headed
We cover the waterfront
The Suffolk Tames
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
SWARM OF BEES- -There are many ways to get a swarm of bees into
a hive. Here a swarm ors a branch is placed in front of an empty hive.
More often they are simply shaken into the hive.
for home. I can assure you we didn't go
fast or hit any bumps for now the bees
were agitated. If they got out they might
make it highly unpleasant in the car.
We arrived safely at home and put the
hive in the orchard where there's a good
50 percent chance they'll stay. Some-
times they just want to move. No mat-
ter what you do, they'll take off again.
I'm a far cry from a professional bee-
keeper but I do enjoy the honey they
provide and the most important job they
do in pollinating our flowers and trees.
Often, if you are a careful observer,
you'll see the white beehives in farmers'
fields or orchards where a beekeeper has
left them temporarily. This helps the
farmer have a better crop of melons or
fruit. Few people realize how much we
rely on bees and insects for this most
important job.
P.S. One pound of honey requires
20,000 trips by the bees.
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