The Swarm

Monday evening I was sitting at the kitchen table when I heard a loud buzzing sound. I looked out the window and saw a large swarm of honeybees hovering above our back porch. Within a few minutes they began landing together in bunches on the fence between our yard and our neighbors. They eventually merged together into a football size moving mass that collected around the queen under the leaves of a bush growing along the fence and settled in for the night. They were well hidden and if you didn't already know they were there then you wouldn't suspect them to be in that bush. The shape in the photo is all bees. It is not a hive. Bees moving all over each other.

The next morning the slowly moving swarm was still football shaped and making it's was down the fence. Now it became much more obvious. Later in the afternoon the sun was on the swarm and they left the fence completely where they spread along the concrete between our house and the backyard. The mass on the ground moved around a little and changed shape depending on the sun and shade but eventually formed a rounded square for the night.

On Wednesday morning I contacted the WNY Honey Producers Association on their website and filled out the online form for a swarm removal.

I had several beekeepers contact me and made arrangements with one to stop by our home at 3 pm to remove the swarm.

While waiting for him there were some

changes. At one point around noon the entire swarm suddenly flew away and for about ten minutes or so there were on bees in our yard. As Mark and I were pondering the situation and I was considering calling the beekeepers to cancel the removal they suddenly and gradually reappeared. Soon the entire swarm was back and formed up in the bush again. Then they split into two

groups.

I think part of the swarm moved on. Maybe there were two queens. It just seemed like there were not as many bees by 3 pm as there were in the morning. The beekeeper arrived at got down on his hands and knees and moved the bees around until he found the queen. Then he put on his bee

protection jacket, gloves and headgear and first put the queen into a container and then began scooping up the bees into a large bucket. The process took about ten minutes. There were still a few bees left on the ground after he left because he said it was impossible to get every bee into the bucket. Most followed the scent of the queen and are now enjoying their new home in a hive on the Bee Happy Farm.

There are a few still hanging around where the queen once was but the beekeeper said they will soon disperse and try to find a hive somewhere nearby.