FROM THE GROUND UP

LESLIE CRAWFORD

A honeybee swarm lands on a signpost at the corner of 4th Street and J Avenue.

Swarming season

Spring, early summer peak time for area's honeybees to find new nests

By LEAH TAYLOR

California has more than 1,600 species of bees. But the one you’ll most likely see swarming down a street is the honeybee. Although a swarm — which is a mass of flying bees — can be alarming, understanding bee behavior will help you to remain calm and act quickly.

Swarming is a natural occurrence in bee colony reproduction, normally occurring in spring and early summer. As a colony grows and their nesting space gets too tight, it will produce a new queen. Special queen cells are constructed by worker bees with selected larvae fed a honeybee secretion called royal jelly, which triggers the development of a new queen bee. Each colony can only have one queen, an adult female whose job is to lay eggs. The queen, who is about twice the size of the worker bees, is the mother of most of the bees in a hive.

Once a hive divides, the new queen stays in the current nest while a portion of the colony will leave with the old queen to seek out a new home. Most of the individual bees and the queen fly until she is tired, resting as a cluster on the ground or a tree branch. Other workers leave the cluster to scout out potential new homes and report back to the collective.

A hole in an attic space or a water meter box are both attractive places

GRAFVISION Worker bees gather around the queen bee, the largest bee in the center of the hive. Each hive only has one queen bee, whose sole task is to lay eggs.

for bees to nest. An ideal location for a bee colony is a cavernous space with about a four- to nine-gallon capacity and a small, defensible entrance.

Generally, colonies of honeybees (Apis mellifera) are docile when swarming. They are focused on finding a new place to live, rather than on defending their home, food resources and baby bees called a brood.

If you see a swarm flying toward you, cover your face and neck, move calmly and quickly away and seek shelter indoors, if possible. If a swarm is forming a cluster on the sidewalk, the side of a structure or a tree branch, bees are resting and will typically move on in 24 to 48 hours, depending on the weather.

If a swarm lands on your property and doesn’t move on or is a safety concern, it is up to you to have it removed. Who do you call? Options are a licensed pest control company, an insured swarm removal service or a beekeeper experienced in removing swarms.

If any bee removal service operator uses pesticides, they are required by the state of California to be properly licensed and report any pesticide usage on the property. Companies or operators that remove swarms without using pesticides are not required to obtain and maintain a pest control operator’s license.

Do some research to find the best person for your situation. Ask about years of experience, the number of removals/relocations per year, what happens to the bees after removal and their insurance status. Personal references and online reviews will also help

choose the right professional to hire.

Bees have a very acute sense of smell and will be attracted to a site of a previous swarm, long after the removed bees are gone. Once a swarm has been removed, it is critical to remove any wax or honey left behind and seal any holes or entrances to discourage other swarms from moving in. Any holes into buildings larger than a pencil must be sealed.

For larger potential entrances, cover the area with a metal screen with six or more meshes per inch. Cavities that cannot be sealed off can be filled with expandable foam to make the area smaller and less favorable for a nesting site.

Beekeeping is against city ordinance in Coronado. Other areas of San Diego County allow beekeeping under certain regulations. Bees must be kept in managed bee boxes with movable frames. Swarm prevention is a top priority for beekeepers.

Native bees and honeybees coexist in the region, and honeybees are an important part of the environment. But public safety is the top priority when unmanaged swarms move in, and eliminating or removing swarms of honeybees will not negatively impact the population of honeybees in our area. ■

Leah Taylor is a University of California Master Beekeeper.