Swarming Bees: What Is It All About And Are They Dangerous?
Reading Time: 2 minutes, 59 seconds Post Views: 1935Honey bee swarming is a natural
process in the life of a honey bee colony. It occurs when a large group of
honey bees leaves an old established colony and flies off to another location
for setting up another colony. It is a natural propagation method that bees
usually do in response to crowding within the colony. It occurs in late spring
and early summer and starts in the warmer hours of the day.
Honey bees live huddled together
in a 'winter cluster' to keep the hive warm. There are fewer bees, just the honey
bee queen, and perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 workers during this season. But as the
summers arrive, the colony expands, producing more worker bees. The honey bee
colony is a closely co-operating unit of thousands of individual bees,
maintaining efficiency by being exceptionally well organized.
There might be 50,000 worker
bees playing out an assortment of jobs:-
2. Maintaining the temperature in the hive
3. Watching the settlement or keeping an eye on the brood, just as taking care of one another
4. Cleaning
5. Creating wax, comb and honey
The queen bee is busy laying
eggs, delivering more labourers, and finally drones. All through this movement, something
vital is going on: communication through 'pheromones'. Workers, drones, and the
queen produce honey bee pheromones. The pheromone is passed when the
individuals from the province feed one another, consequently sending the
pheromone. Along these lines, the bees are also communicating with each other.
It is known as 'trophallaxis'.
The queen bee delivers the queen
pheromone, which attracts the specialists to her, and encourages them to
construct the comb, forage, and tend the brood. However, as there are thousands
of worker bees and only one queen bee, there comes the point when not all of the
workers have access to the queen. This leads to the need of creating a new
queen bee, and before the new queen emerges, the old queen departs from the
hive with part of the colony (swarms) to establish a new nest.
Are Honey
Bees Swarms Dangerous?
Honey bee swarms might contain a
few hundred to a few thousand working drones, a couple of drones and one queen
bee. Swarming honey bees fly around momentarily and then cluster on a tree
limb, bush or another object. Clusters usually remain at the same place for an
hour to a couple of days, contingent upon climate and the time expected to
observe another home site by scouting bees. When a good area for the new
province, like an empty tree, is observed, the cluster breaks up and flies to
it.
Bee swarms are not risky under
most conditions. Swarming bees feed before swarming, lessening their capacity
to sting. Further, bees away from their home are less guarded and are probably
not going to sting except if incited.
It is suggested not to do
anything if a swarm of honey bees is found on a tree, bush or house. Swarms are
transitory, and the honey bees will move on if you patiently ignore them.
Instead, admire and appreciate these little pollinators from a safe distance
and keep others away from them.
According to Mr. Basem Barry, founder & CEO of Geohoney, bee swarms focus only on finding a new nest, not attacking humans. Thus, never attempt to move or destroy the swarm because if the bees feel threatened, they may sting. Instead, please support them in accomplishing their natural process by giving them their space and appreciating all the hard work they do for us.
very nice content. helpful