Swarm season happens in the spring and early summer, when a queen bee and half her colony decide to move to another home. Usuallly they will cluster on a tree, fence, wall or even the ground. If you see one - don't panic!
When honey bees swarm they are typically very docile. Their bellys are full of honey and they do not have a hive to protect. An experienced bee keeper can safely capture a swarm and transfer the bees to a colony of their own.
If you see a swam, please contact your local friendly bee keeper for assistance.
- Plant pollinator friendly gardens.
- DON'T spray your lawn for dandelions and weeds. Dandelions and goldenrod are the first and last food source of the year for the bees. By spraying and cutting down these flowers we are depriving them of much needed resources.
- Educate and inspire the next generation of the importance of the natural world.
- Support local bee keepers and organizations.
Not technically a question, but bees are very cool - and here are five reasons why:
- Birds and butterflies use the sun for navigation, where animals with bigger brains like humans often use memory to create a mental map with landmarks. Bees do both!
- Bees communicate with smells, but they also dance! When a bee finds a rich nectar source, she will dance for her fellow foragers to teach them the way there.
- All bees in a colony are female, except for the drones. The drones only job is to mate with other queens, after which they explode and die.
- A single bee can visit 5000 flowers in a day.
- Honey bees must gather nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey. One bee would therefore have to fly 140,000 km - three times around the globe - to make half a kg of honey.
