Swarming! A swarm of bees can be both a fascinating and a fearsome sight. It occurs when about 70% of the bees in a colony, along with the queen, leave the hive to set up a new home elsewhere. While this may be a natural phenomenon of colony reproduction, beekeepers are always alert to the early signs since this is the equivalent of 70% of your workforce walking (or should I say flying) off the job. What then causes bees to swarm? Let us first establish that it is successful hives which will most likely swarm. They become overcrowded with pollen and nectar stored everywhere and no place left for the queen to lay her eggs. The bees will get ready to swarm by creating queen cells and preparing the queen for her journey. The queen cells left behind will hatch as new queens thus ensuring the survival of the old colony. The prevention of this type of swarm is relatively straightforward requiring the beekeeper to avoid overcrowding by providing sufficient storage space for pollen and nectar and for the queen to lay her eggs and for brood to be reared. The other type of swarm is called a reproductive swarm and this is more difficult and often impossible to prevent. Early detection of their intention to swarm presents the best options. Splitting the colony at this time may convince the bees that the swarm has already taken place and the beekeeper ends up with two colonies instead of one. Should detection not occur early enough, nothing will deter them. There are however, a few things which can be done to make the best of a bad situation. Remember, should you come upon a swarm of bees in your surroundings, they have probably stopped to rest and will likely move on in a day or two. Given that all honeybees in Trinidad ( not in Tobago) are now Africanized, why take a risk? Call in the experts to deal with it. While there is evidence to support the theory that bees, when swarming, are unlikely to attack since they have filled up on honey for the journey and are focused on their mission, it is a theory I would urge you to leave untested.
… Gordon Deane
Bee Fact! What we see buzzing around are “Grandma” bees
What our beekeeper has been up to
From birth to death the roles of worker bees change as they age. Newly emerged bees are put to work immediately in tasks such as, feeding the developing larvae and cleaning the hive. While older bees take up the role of foragers, collecting nectar and pollen.
… Dr. Jo-Anne Sewlal
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Gordon Deane was recently granted membership to the Caribbean Academy of Sciences (CAS). Elsie’s Finest would also like to congratulate fellow bee-keepers, Ricardo D’andrade and Hayden Sinanan on their membership to CAS.