Chasing a Swarm
It’s May 2020, the COVID-19 lockdown has been in place for six weeks but the bees are carrying on regardless!
The beekeeping year usually starts around April when the days become longer and warmer, it’s then safe to start opening the hives and see what’s going on. This year the majority of my bees were getting established by early-mid April. When the queen starts laying in earnest she can lay between 1,000 and 2,000 eggs every day, this means that three weeks after the egg has been laid up to 2,000 bees are hatching on a daily basis. If the colony was strong going into winter it is possible that those new bees will be arriving to rather cramped accommodation so it’s my job as the beekeeper to ensure they have enough space and food to remain comfortable.
Swarming is a very natural behaviour. The main reason to swarm is to find a new, more suitable home, often because they want more room but it is also considered it’s possibly a way of reducing the risk of disease. The scout bees will venture out looking for somewhere that meets their property hunting criteria and once found they will rally approximately half the colony, plus the queen. There’s a lot more to it but this post isn’t intended to be a technical instruction!
When you say “swarm of bees” most people react with fear or trepidation, concern that this plague of insects will form an arrow, like in a Looney Tunes cartoon, and descend upon their unsuspecting victim. In reality we’re the least of their concerns (although standing in the middle of a swarm cloud without protection isn’t the best idea!) Before they leave the hive each bee fills its honey stomach with as much honey as it can, this will provide sustenance for the journey and hopefully enough to allow decoration of their new home too. This weight, in addition to the fact they’ve no home to protect whilst on the move, means they’re less likely to sting you.
May and June is the height of swarm activity near me. last year I almost ran out of hives with the calls I received but I always managed to find something to make them a home. My first call this year came in April but I missed out, the second was this week - the first week of May.
I received a call from a lovely couple who had watched a swarm choose their garden as a stopping point. When I arrived a calm, rugby sized ball of bees hung from a beautiful bush that was covered in the most delightfully scented blossom. I assessed and discussed with the home owners, seconds before I climbed the ladder to get them an almighty vibration erupted with a very loud buzz and the bees took flight into the air around me.
I’ve only ever seen one swarm cloud, all of the others have been neatly sitting in bushes and trees. I would have thought I’d have been scared but suited up, standing in the middle of this dark, circling cloud, I instead felt elated.
I felt mixture of sadness and relief as I saw them fly over the house. Getting back into the swing of beekeeping in Springtime always has a tinge of nervousness and wondering if I remember how to do everything properly, so seeing the swarm move off meant I didn’t have to worry about doing something wrong! As I stood watching them fly away I noticed they didn’t seem to be going particularly far. On closer inspection they had decided the neighbour’s garden was much more appealing.
After a quick check with the home owner I moved my equipment to the new garden and watched to see if they would settle somewhere convenient. Of course they didn’t but it could have been much worse as only required a step ladder to reach them. Initially they were settling in three groups, as I studied one of the groups I noticed drones within the colony, this came as a surprise to me as I had thought drones were excluded from colony activity and were more nuisances than helping hands, I am starting to learn this isn’t the case and there may be more to their role than we currently understand so seeing some drones in amongst the swarm was a highlight.
Camera out to film them and oooh, there’s a queen. Another first as I’ve never been able to find a queen within a swarm and so have had to go by other behaviour signs to know I’ve caught her. My first attempt to unite the swarm was a disaster, I cut off the small branch the queen was on and popped her and some of the worker bees into the skep, I then watched as they all flew out again and joined the rest of the colony on the bush! pah.
After waiting a while for the bees to settle, and as the sun started to slip behind the house, I climbed the step ladder and gently navigated my way to a suitable cutting point on the bush, removed the first branch of bees, dropped a load all over the ladder and popped the rest in the skep. After clearing off the ladder, further branches were removed with improved delicacy and the colony was moved into the skep on the ground.
As I hadn’t seen the queen I used my senses to work out what was likely to be happening. I listened to the sound of the bees as they vibrated and buzzed, I watched as they stuck their bottoms in the air to expose their glands to send out pheromone messages to their brothers and sisters, and I smelled foam banana penny sweets as they released the pheromone signalling this was home.
Several hours after turning up I packed the colony into the back of the truck and headed home. As the skep isn’t a suitable long-term home I decanted them into a small hive and gave them some food so they can establish their new home. I checked on the entrance the next morning and they were already bringing in pollen so I’m hoping they’ll stick around!
I’ve made a short video with some highlights, I hope you like it…
