Bees thousands of them.....

[jess]

Is anyone familair with honey bees? The farmer I rent from has bee boxes in back of my house, He's gone for the next week and I'm taking care of his animals. I have no way to contact him as he's on a cruise...He has a few beef cows and some horses, mini and big, Anyway when I was enjoying my coffee before going out to feed this morning I looked out the window to see if the calves were playing and saw a huge mass on one of the Pine trees that wasn't there last night and even more interesting the mass was moving...Went out to take a closer look and it's the Honey Bees thousands of them in a huge swarming mass on a branch of the tree. Does anyone know why they might be doing this and not returning to their boxes? Should I do anything or just leave them alone..I'm not worried about getting stung or anything like that...I'm just wondering if they may just take off and not come back if they aren't using the bee boxes.....Ugg!!! The pics aren't great as they were taken with my cell phone......It's also hard to judge the size from the pictures...It's huge about the size and diameter of a large feed pan...,

 

[Minimor]

I'm not a beekeeper but have a neighbor who is.--or was, he retired a year or two ago & kept just a few hives for personal honey supply.

Here are a couple links that will explain swarming better than I can! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarming_(honey_bee)

http://www.sembabees.org/toplevelpages/swarm.html

The bees may stay there in a swarm for days (or however long they have food for--if the weather is hot the swarm may not last long) or if their scouts find a suitable home they could be gone very soon--and yes, from what I've been told a swarm will greatly deplete the farmer's colony. I am not sure what you can do about it--how long before the owner will be home again? He should be managing the hives to prevent swarming, then this would be unlikely to happen while he is away.

 

[Sonya]

We had bees a couple years ago....they are swarming...their box is either to small for the number of bees or too hot (could also be infected with ants, etc..) They can be caught...you need another box and put it below them and shake the tree and they will normally go right in...but I'm sure they are probably gone by now and you don't have access to another box.

Swarms happen all the time, you usually cannot predict them.

 

[jess]

Minimor,

Thank You for those links....I didn't even think to do a search on the net..lol. I'd never seen anything like that nor had anyone I talked to so I just assumed these bees were mental and just liked sleeping outside as their boxes are only 10 feet from the tree. Well now that I know this is normal and my worse fear has been confirmed I need to figure out what to do.....They are still there this morning despite the rain last night.....Bee Wrangler was not part of the deal nor does the idea of playing with bees thrill me....GREAT!!! Ok One more question if I can get them into a huge card board box I have and cover it with screen, and put in a couple of branches do you think they'd be ok until he gets home Monday? Sonya it very well could be ants now that you mention it...They are all over the pastures...

 

[Minimor]

I don't think an ordinary box will work--I'm not sure they would go into a plain box on their own--I think when a beekeeper moves a swarm he uses a box with the frames & comb in it-- the swarm moves into that because it looks like a good new home for them. Not sure--I've never had to call the neighbor here to come & remove a swarm so haven't seen what he does & have never asked him much about it.

You might be able to cut the tree branch & set it & the swarm in a box?? It's not what I would do...I don't mind bees but prefer not to "handle" them that way!!

...and if you did that I'm not sure how they would do in a plain box for a few days--it would depend too if the swarm has enough food to sustain the bees until Monday.

I don't know--I'd be inclined to leave them alone, and if they are gone when the owner comes back, well, they're gone. Of course then you have to hope that they haven't found a nesting spot in a place that is bad for you--somewhere in/on your house or barn or yard. Once the swarm moves into a new home I'm not sure how easy it is for the beekeeper to get them moved into a box hive again.

 

[jess]

That was my main concern about doing anything with them, lack of food and water..Heck I don't even know if bees drink water....Hmmm might have to go with option one....Pretend I didn't see a thing....lol

 

[user 488]

II have no way to contact him as he's on a cruise...

I don't know anything about bees but you can contact him. All you need to know is the name of the ship he is on. He did not leave you that information in case of emergency?

 

[Sonya]

When I say box, I mean a bee box with frames..you can even try moving their old box below them and they might go in it. Yes they drink water and of course their food is nectar...if you are concerned about food/water...you can put sugar water in a ziploc baggie, lay it flat and cut a small slit in the top....you could place it on top of their old box and that might coax them back..however this time of the year supplementing them is not necessary. With your inexperience working with bees I would just leave them alone. Honey bees do know their keepers and are very docile and usually will not sting them unless it's honey collection time, they sense fear just like any other animal and you are likely to get stung. Do you have access to a bee suit/gloves/headnet? If you don't, my advice would be to just stay away from them.

 

[jess]

He didn't leave contact info but I do know the name of the ship he's on....I'm a vet tech and he uses the clinic I work for (large and small animal)...He's told me to do what I would do if they were my own when making emergency decisions about their animals care if needed. He does call every couple of days... They've been gone a week already...The bees we never even discussed....Sonya I do know what the bee boxes look like and may try putting that sugar water mixture on top to see if they'll go back in...I was only thinking of something I could do temporarily to keep them from going away until he gets home...I was just going to tap the branch and according to what I read they should just all or mostly fall in but they seem to be hanging out so I guess I'll just leave them bee......Besides I'm not up for getting stung....

 

[Bassett]

This may not necessarily be from your hives. It could be a wild swarm. The reason they are swarmed like that is because the queen bee is in the center. Years ago we had a swarm on a fence. We called someone who was a bee keeper (they were not his bees) and he came and reached right in and got the queen bee and put her in a box and the rest of the swarm followed. It's all about the queen bee.