My friend Paul's bees are not enjoying this weather much.....
We think they might be starting to swarm, but the clump broke up later in the day and started doing their usual thing.
Amazing to watch though
Mind your bees
I wouldn't be able to see that in person...I can't even enlarge the pic.
I know bees are helpful but anything en masse like that just freaks me out.
Hi Jen,
These bees are so gentle, you can get within inches of the hive and they don't do anything. When they are all clumped together like this, you can practically put your nose in the bee pile and they don't react. Not that I'd try it though!
I usually can't stand bugs in large quantities, but the bees are the exception. Did you know they "sing" at night?
now that I did not know
What do they sing, top 40 or oldies?
I think they lean to madrigals or gregorian chants......
or just humming.....
It's cool to walk in the back yard at night and hear them softly buzzing to themselves.
What happens when they start to swarm?
I'd love to keep bees at some point.
A queen finds it is time to divide the swarm and create a new hive. About half the workers load up with pollen and go with the leaving queen. The new hive is often more productive than the hive that was left. Up to a hundred thousand worker bees leave with the queen. Aproximately the same amount remain to rebuild the original hive.
When you see a swarm at rest in a tree or shrub the queen will be somewhere in the middle of that swarm. A beekeeper can reach into the swarm and move the queen to a new hive box which will be followed by the whole swarm entering the new hive to protect the queen and build the new hive. They are amazing critters to work with. The key word is "work" and you need proper training and equipment to perform that work.
I would strongly advise anyone thinking about beekeeping to seek and go into training with an active beekeeper. Most areas have associations that can be reached by contacing the area farm agent.
I think I'll just 'keep' my bumbles, they are just sweet.