Let's talk about bees

Honeybees that is "¦ Unlike many of our native bees, honeybees are social insects. There are 4,000-5,000 other species of solitary bees. The benefits of being social include the ability to store resources in the form of honey, which allows the hive to survive the winter. A beehive is like a single organism. If it does not grow and divide, it will eventually die off. Swarming is a natural occurrence and the only way a beehive can propagate. Without swarming, the species would die off.

When a honeybee hive survives the winter, the queen begins to expand her brood nest in anticipation of the coming spring bloom with its pollen and nectar flow. The number of bees in the hive increases rapidly. When a hive is very successful, the queen and her workers feel crowded and begin to swarm. Specialized nurse bees respond by raising several new queen cells to replace the old queen, which will leave the hive with the swarm taking half or more of the hive's bees with her. Only one of the newly raised queens will be allowed to survive, mate and take charge of the rest of the hive.

A swarm will form just outside the hive mid-day in the spring. The outgoing bees will circle around the old hive until they are organized to depart - usually finding a nearby tree, bush or side of a building where they form a tight cluster around the queen.

A swarm can be as small as a softball or as large as a basketball, containing from 10,000 to 50,000 individual bees. From this cluster, the swarm sends out scouts to look for a good location to make a new home - a hollow in a tree, utility box, hole in the side of building, etc. Often the swarm will move on shortly after the first cluster is formed in an effort to find a new home.

What Should You Do if You See a Swarm?

Don't panic, bees in a swarm are at their most docile. They've gorged on honey before leaving the hive and have no resources or home to defend.

Don't spray the swarm with pesticides or water, and don't try to shoo them off by knocking the cluster from their temporary landing spot.

Do not call an exterminator - it is illegal to exterminate honeybees in California except under special circumstances.

Do contact a knowledgeable beekeeper to capture the swarm if necessary. Contact your local beekeeping club, and they can put you in touch with someone who can capture the swarm or make other recommendations often at no charge.

When reporting a swarm, be sure to confirm you are seeing honeybees and not wasps or yellow jackets. Honeybees are soft and fuzzy looking. Wasps and yellow jackets are shiny. Wasps usually make hanging paper nests and yellow jackets most often make their nests in the ground.

You should also note the size of the cluster, how high above the ground it is and whether the bees are in a tree or bush or on the side of a structure, etc. If the swarm is on someone else's property, the property owner will need to give permission to capture the swarm.

Honeybees live in cavities and fill the cavities up with the wax comb they use to raise their young and store pollen and nectar for food. Bees that don't find a new hive may create an open hive in a tree or bush. Open hives seldom survive.

If the bees are coming and going from an opening in a tree or a structure, this is no longer considered a swarm but rather an established hive. Extracting a hive from a tree or structure is more involved than just capturing a swarm but is still possible. Structural extractions can be complicated and time-consuming.

If you see a buzzing insect going in and out of a hole in the ground or among debris, it most likely is a yellow jacket or a wasp of some kind.

"Bee" kind to our honeybees - we need them. The honeybee was originally imported from Europe for production of honey. They are currently used in agriculture for honey and as pollinators for crops. Escaped honeybees have become wild or feral and some of these wild populations have been infiltrated by Africanized honeybees, which have a more aggressive nature. Beekeeping is an agricultural, educational or hobbyist activity that utilizes the more docile European-type strain of honeybee; however, proper training of beekeepers is necessary to minimize risks from bee stings and to control or manage the natural swarming behavior. Concern for honeybees, which was a well-publicized problem during the first decade of this century, has helped educate the public about the importance of pollinators and the threat that pesticides pose for all types of pollinators. Concern for honeybees has helped more people understand why it's important to have more land covered with wildflowers and trees. Honeybees are beneficial insects that are crucial to agriculture and pollinate our garden flowers, fruits and vegetables.