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dirtgirl_wt

bee's knees!

dirtgirl
17 years ago

Has anybody had a sudden appearance of swarming honeybees?? I was going to post this last night but it turns out I am glad I got disconnected and chose to do it today instead...

Yesterday I came out of the garage and it sounded as if someone had parked a Geo Metro on top of my house and left the engine running. It only took me a second to know that it HAD to be a swarm of bees, and heckuva large one at that. I got my binocs out and began looking about the trees for the usual hanging ball of bees abnd was completely unprepared for what I saw instead. THere were MILLIONS of bees flying erratically around the crown of one particular shingle oak, and they were acting as though someone had taken a shotgun to a hive, wildly darting out at all angles and filling the air for at least 40 feet in any direction. It was very unnerving, especially since I have a history of bee allergy, and because I was afraid they might find a spot under the house which suited them and think of relocating there. I noticed that every bird in the backyard, around the feeders, everywhere, had quietly vanished. I thought of yelling for my husband to come see this, but I decided he might not like being jolted awake to come see a bunch of stinging insects swarm a tree. I went back in the house after something and to check on dinner, and when I went back out, less than ten minutes later, it was silent again and the birds were back. THe bees were gone that quickly. Later that afternoon I thought I heard a tractor running in the field east of our place, which after a second didn't make sense since it is in wheat right now...I decided that maybe my bees hadn't gone that far. I high stepped through the nettle and ivy in the direction of the hum, and as I went further I kept getting more and more amazed at the sound of it. Maybe 200 feet into the woods I was really getting nervous because I recalled how far and wide those suckers were darting about above the trees, and although I hadn't actually spotted them yet in the poor light, I figured it might be safer to go SLOWLY from that point on. It wasn't long before I spotted them....and I have NEVER in my life seen so many bees. I didn't know that many of them would move at one time, unless an entire hive was destroyed. They were going in and out of a tree about a foot and a half in diameter through a gash in the base, but an entire 20 foot section of trunk was covered with crawling bees. I usually love to watch honey bees work around a beetree, but this made me completely uneasy and I only stayed a moment before backing away.

I took my husband out later to see them and he was, as I figured, unimpressed--he'd seen bee trees before. I immediately began kicking myself for not dragging his groggy butt out earlier in the yard to see the spectacle over the house.

Then today as we were leaving a field after planting corn, I saw that he had gotten off the tractor and was motioning at something in the fencerow. As I pulled up I saw a dark blob in a bush and somehow I just knew it had to be more bees. Now he was finally excited. He'd never seen a swarm before and I still tried telling him that this little pile of several hundred bees was nothing at all like the previous day's encounter.

I guess maybe it is that time of year when new queens leave the hive or something?? My great grandpa kept bees but that was way before I came along and I'm afraid I don't know that much about them except that she's somehwere in the middle of the ball of bees and that the rest are scouts going everywhere in the vicinity searching for a safe place to start a new hive.

I do know that if one should sting you close to the hive you'd better have your track shoes on and know how to use them!

Comments (5)

  • prairiegal
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    ***, I saw that he had gotten off the tractor and was motioning at something in the fencerow. As I pulled up I saw a dark blob in a bush and somehow I just knew it had to be more bees. Now he was finally excited. He'd never seen a swarm before and I still tried telling him that this little pile of several hundred bees was nothing at all like the previous ***

    Cool! We had a swarm just hanging--about the size of a basketball--in an evergreen in the front yard of a farmhouse in Central Iowa. It was fascinating and slightly nauseating, at the same time...if you catch my drift. I had two small children and I was afraid they'd get out of the house and head toward the noise.

    I believe bees "swarm" either when they find their hive uninhabitable (for whatever reason) or because, as you said, they have an extra Queen and need to separating the fighting aristocracy. :-)

  • terryr
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    dirtgirl, I love reading your posts...don't envy all the bees...but the way you write, you really pull people in. Do you write for somebody? Newspaper, magazine?

    Also, what's an extra Queen? I honestly don't know, that's why I'm asking :o)

    Terry

  • fairy_toadmother
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    cool!

    well, i could answer questions on bumble bees, but not honeybees. sorry!

    you could always post in the beekeeping forum. lots of experience over there.

  • west_texas_peg
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    One day while my DH and I were working in the garden there was suddenly this strange buzzing noise. I looked up in time to see a very large mass of bees just 'floating' down the alley at about the height of the utility lines. I called my DH and he came out just in time to see it cross the avenue and proceed on down our alley, just a 'buzzing' along. It was at the least 3' in diameter. Was very relieved they didn't stop off at our house.

    Some years ago DH was in the hospital and naturally that is when a swarm of bees decided to move into our old house. DH asked a fellow worker to check it out. I had a fit...he was much older with health problems and I could just imagine he'd be attack by the swarm, fall off the ladder and...and, and!!!

  • bootros
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, in June my husband spotted something in a street tree on our way to dinner in the evening. We sat in the car amazed (with the windows up) at what we were seeing. On the way home they were still there. It was so fascinating we researched bees on the internet and read that beekeepers actually collect the wild swarms to improve their hives. We tracked a guy down locally and he had collected the swarm by 8:30A.M.the next day I'm proud to say he told us our swarm was the largest he'd seen so far this year. Laura