Owl Light
Where Inspiration & Inquiry Converge
  • Home
  • Literary Journal
  • Owl Light Sponsorship
  • Digital Owl
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Home
  • Literary Journal
  • Owl Light Sponsorship
  • Digital Owl
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Home
  • /
  • Animals
  • /
  • Finger Lakes
  • /
  • Food and Beverage
  • /
  • Gardening
  • /
  • Nature

Bee Lines – It’s swarm season

by Sam Hall –

A swarm on the branch of an apple tree.  Below: The tools needed and steps to remove a swarm from a tall tree. Photos courtesy Sam Hall

For honey bees swarming season is here. It is when nature tries to increase the number of colonies to insure the survival of the species. Though I have not heard of any swarms so far this year, I’m sure I will within the next few days. The earliest that I have ever heard of a swarm here is April 17 but that was an exceptionally warm early spring.

Hopefully you have been privileged to see a swarm hanging in a bush or a tree. What you are seeing is about 40% to 60% of the population from the old colony. An area that the bees do not seem to be the best at is when this group separates from their former co-workers at the old location they really don’t know where they are going. They leave with the old queen who they have placed on a diet for a few days before they leave so she can get light enough to fly. Usually though because of the old queen they don’t initially go very far from the old location as she gets tired. When she alights the bees form the cluster around her and that is what you see hanging in the tree or bush.

A swarm being shaken off into a super over a sheet (to collect bees that do not make it into the box). This is much easier when the bees are on low trees and bushes.

Before the colony swarms several things happen in the colony. The bees will create swarm queen cells usually located on the bottom of the two frames in the center of the brood nest. There are usually 5 to 9 of such cells. The queens in these cells are not allowed to emerge until the old queen is gone.

For example if the weather does not allow the old queen to leave on time the workers will add wax to the tips of the swarm queen cells to keep the queens from emerging.

The first queen to emerge from one of the swarm queen cells will go to the other queen cells and sting to death those queens before they can emerge. If two should emerge at the same time they will fight until only one is left. It may seem cruel but nature only allows one queen bee to reign in the colony at a time except in one situation which I will not cover here.

This whole process is nature’s way of trying to increase the number of colonies and insure the species survival. Tom Seeley from Cornell has spent 40 some years studying swarming. His book Honeybee Democracy is a must read if you are really interested in this phenomena of nature.

For those of you that are beekeepers this is the time to start carrying your swarm box and other items you need to capture a swarm in the trunk of your car or bed of your truck. I carry a simple swarm box which I have made from a deep super with a tacked on screened bottom and a hinged screened top.

You can see from the accompanying pictures how I use the box, ladder, sheet and other items in taking a swarm from an old apple tree. I never cease to be thrilled to watch the thousands of bees which I have shaken onto the sheet from above suddenly like they have gotten a military command start marching into the swarm box where I have managed to hopefully have the queen.

Twice in recent years I have had to retrieve swarms that are already on the ground. I do not know the forces that forced them to the ground but one of the concerns is where is the queen. If you step on her the colony is lost unless you have another queen immediately available and they accept her.

“Place a beehive on my grave And let the honey soak through.

When I’m dead and gone, That’s what I want from you. The

streets of heaven are gold and sunny, But I’ll stick with my plot

and a pot of honey. Place a beehive on my grave And let the

honey soak through.”

~ Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

Posted on June 6, 2019 by owllightnews.com. This entry was posted in Animals, Finger Lakes, Food and Beverage, Gardening, Nature and tagged #Beekeeping, #Finger Lakes, #Finger Lakes Food. Bookmark the permalink.
The Night Sky ~ June 2019
Sacred days for workers

    Recent Posts

    • Visual Studies Workshop Announces Project Space Residency Open Application Period
    • West End Gallery showcasing Brian S. Keeler, Treacy Ziegler
    • Hard
    • Eye-Magine – Future Youth Art Exhibit
    • “These Wilds” Announcement

    Recent Comments

    • Darlene on Let’s Talk About Beep!
    • Darlene Bentley on Hello! from a new Guest Editor, and Finding Joy in Hardship.
    • owllightnews.com on The Farm
    • Douglas Morgan on The Farm
    • owllightnews.com on Energizing and Engaging Fun at GEVA

    Archives

    • May 2025
    • April 2025
    • March 2025
    • February 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • October 2024
    • September 2024
    • June 2024
    • May 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • January 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • September 2023
    • August 2023
    • July 2023
    • June 2023
    • May 2023
    • April 2023
    • March 2023
    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017

    Categories

    • #2021
    • Agriculture
    • Animals
    • Antiques
    • Art
    • Astronomy
    • automobiles
    • Beekeeping
    • Birthday
    • Boating
    • books
    • Botany
    • Broome County
    • Buffalo
    • Canadice
    • Canandaigua
    • Cartoon
    • Children
    • Civics
    • Collecting
    • Comic Strip
    • Community Information
    • concert
    • Covid-19
    • Creative non-fiction
    • Dansville
    • Death
    • Democracy
    • Dogs
    • Editorial
    • Education
    • Environmental
    • Essay
    • Family Fun
    • Fantasy
    • Fiction
    • film
    • Finger Lakes
    • Food and Beverage
    • gallery
    • Gardening
    • Gender Rights
    • Great Lakes
    • Health
    • History
    • Holiday
    • Honeoye
    • Human Interest
    • Human Rights
    • In Memoriam
    • Innovation
    • Interview
    • Leisurely Pursuits
    • Literary Arts
    • Little Lakes
    • Live Theatre
    • Livingston County
    • media
    • Monroe County
    • Movies
    • Museums
    • Music
    • Naples, NY
    • Nature
    • Night Sky
    • No. 1
    • NYS
    • Obituary
    • online
    • Ontario County
    • Opinion
    • Outdoor Sports
    • OWL Light
    • Owl Light News
    • Owl Light Newsstand locations
    • Owl Light Sponsor
    • Owl Sponsor
    • OwlLight Blogpost
    • OwlLightNewsArchive
    • Performing Arts
    • Photography
    • Poetry
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Recipe
    • Reviews
    • Richmond, NY
    • Rochester
    • Satire
    • Science
    • Scifi
    • Seniors
    • Shop Local
    • Social Justice
    • sports
    • STEM
    • Steuben County
    • Sustainability
    • Theatre
    • Tioga County
    • Tompkins County
    • Travel
    • Uncategorized
    • Veterans
    • Weather
    • Women's Rights
    • Wood working
    • writing
    • Wyoming County
    • Yates County
    • Young Adult
    • youth
    • Zoom

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
Powered by