Last week on my show, I had Dr. Eric Mussen, the extension apiculturist at UC Davis, as a guest. We talked all about bees: swarming, diseases, killer bees, honey, etc. During the show, it became apparent that the reason why I was not getting any “bee calls” this spring, despite being on multiple swarm lists, was because I wasn’t on his list. He agreed to put me on the list, and I anxiously awaited someone to call and tell me there was a swarm to catch.
So at 10:00 am the next morning, I get a call. He was serious when he said his list was the list to bee on. Unfortunately, this swarm flew away before I arrived, but sure enough, I got another call at 3 pm the same day, and I showed up at someone’s house to find a nice clump of bees on an apple tree at eye level. I forgot to get a picture of the clump, but here they are entering a “Nuc” box that I brought to catch them in.
A decent size clump of bees, making their way into the box. When you get the queen inside the rest follow suit. But looking back at this catch, with what I have seen, I can only say to myself: You call THAT a swarm?
That’s a swarm. (all images are clickable)
In case you haven’t grasped the density of this cloud of bees, check out the full-resolution image. Yeah. I also recorded them on my iRiver if you’d care to listen. [audio:Swarm_clip.mp3]
At this point I am shirtless, standing behind my apartment to check on the laundry drying on the line, (sunlight is free) and a swarm has arrived on the scene, intending to move into my apartment. Yeah, they headed straight for the entrance to an old dead honeybee nest that was in the wall of my apartment building. Right down there…
Once again, the full-resolution shot.
See that spot on the grass on the bottom left? I decided to crawl there with my camera to get a closer look. Note: no shirt, no veil, no fear, no stings. That’s how docile swarms can really be! Think about that when you see a crappy B-movie that features swarms attacking people.
At this point the bees are starting to enter the cavity at the bottom of the side boards. Let’s get just a little closer…
As the bees continue to enter, you’ll notice that those bees that have landed but not entered will start to look organized. Which way do they appear to be facing?
Still, more bees land on the wall, as you can see there is still a metric colon-load of bees flying in the air…
Now, looking at the entrance again, you can see that the bees on the wall are facing the entrance. But they are not crawling in - they are fanning with their wings. This gives the rest of the bees an air current carrying the queen’s pheromones that they can literally home in on.
Finally, here’s a closer look at the entrance. The bees with their wings spread out are fanning, the others are crawling.
I decided to leave them alone so that they could finish moving in, besides, I had things to get done. Had I any more brood boxes to put the bees in, I could have probably directed the bees into the boxes instead of the wall. Now, I have a bee colony in my apartment. Sometimes in the afternoon, I can hear them buzzing when I put my ear to the wall. What I wouldn’t give for a camera to see inside!
So there you have it, a phenomenally large swarm that moved in right behind my place of residence, right under my very nose - not two days after I complained about not getting any swarms yet this year! They may be in the wall, but I can probably coax them out. Beekeepers have ways of removing colonies from walls and trees, and tomorrow I’m going to pick up some more boxes and set it up. Plus I got a call today about two bee colonies in olive trees to check out… more honey for me, for meade, and for every guest who comes on my show!
UPDATE 05-22-2006: The poison used to kill the termites last year killed the previous colony that was in the wall, and I had thought that it was gone. Apparently not. I noticed a few bees wriggling on the ground in front of the nest when I checked on it after a few days, consistent with the poison still being present. Today, when I checked on the nest, there was mo more activity, and dead bees were littered about the ground. The colony in the wall is now completely dead.
I’m now going to seal up the entrance to this nest, because otherwise bees are still going to come back to “rob” the old nest, bringing the poison back to their colonies. I shall prevent any more bees from meeting an untimely fate here again. If only I had had bee boxes when the swarm had arrived!
At my home in Sebastopol, I have a bee colony that comes on and off in my wall, and during the late spring/summer, that sight of swarming bees overhead is quite familiar.
Once, a couple hundred got trapped in my room (crawled under the wall–its an old victorian-esque) when we went on vacation, and upon return, it wasn’t pleasant having them trapped in my room.
But, I can see how cool they are, if you know what you are doing.
That would be weird - to have bees move into your room when you are gone! Someday, I’m going to build an observation hive and install it indoors, with the entrance connected to the outside, that way I could see bees in my living room. -KJM
I see, bribe guests with honey … clever.
Hi sis. You’d be surprised how thrilled it makes them, especially when they don’t expect something like that. -KJM
Love this and the recording was great. Just wish I wasn’t allergic to honeybees as I found out one summer watching some solitary bees that were too close to a hive.