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| Swarming Bees |
On Wednesday, when M was here, tending to the garden, he noticed quite a few bees buzzing around at the back of the garden and called out to me. I had been in the garden, earlier in the morning, picking oranges, but, I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. But, when M showed me the bees flying about, I realized that it was a swarm of migrating bees and noticed the cluster of them in one of the Euphorbia tirucalli trees. It didn't take them long to form the cluster around their queen. Then, everything was fairly quiet with just a few bees flying around. The swarm would stay in place and rest while scouter bees look for a new hive.
This is the third time since I've been in this house that I've had a swarm of migrating bees form a cluster like this. The very first time, I was watering the tree on which they had swarmed and they left, immediately. The second time, we called the county vector control and they sent someone to collect the bees. But, this time, when I looked up the county vector control website, they say they do not remove bees. So, I looked up the county beekeepers association and there were several beekeepers listed. They will collect bees for a fee.
But, I know that swarming bees will move once they've found a suitable site for their permanent hive. So, I decided to give them some time to move on. They were still in place on Friday evening when M came to tend to the garden. I thought I'd give them a little more time. As I told one of my friends, if they were still here on Monday, then, I will contact a beekeeper.
But, when I checked on Saturday afternoon, the swarm had moved on. I checked the other trees in the garden, but, I didn't see another bee cluster. I hope they found a good place to build their hive. I am just hoping that it is not in my attic space! I don't have a finished attic as such, but, there is a space between the ceiling and the roof with ventilation openings! I didn't notice any bees flying in and out of any of the vents, though. But, if my ceiling starts to drip with honey, then, I will know where they went! And then, I'll really need to call a beekeeper!
In the meantime, I am grateful for:
- Bees, who pollinate our flowers and enable them to form fruits and seeds, who bless my garden with their presence, and who have, hopefully, moved on to a better place to build their hive!
Have you had a cluster of swarming bees in your garden?
That is so cool. I've never seen anything like that. Do you know what kind of bees they are? We had bees between the walls at our old house. They would see to go away to return the next year. We never get rid of them entirely, but unfortunately, we never got any honey from them, either. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't really know what kind of bees they were, June, but, I'm assuming that they were honey bees. Whether European honey bees or Africanized honey bees, I don't really know. I did read that most of the wild honey bees in So. Cal. are Africanized.
DeleteThat's so interesting that you had bees that would come and go at your old house! Too bad you didn't get any honey from them!
That is good to know that your bees have finished their vacation in your garden and moved on!
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I am a bit relieved that they left, Bushlady. I didn't want anyone getting stung! But, I hope that at least some bees will continue to visit my garden when the fruit trees are flowering!
DeleteWow that's really interesting. So glad you gave them time to move on and that they did!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting, isn't it? I am glad that they have moved on. There were the usual couple of bees in the garden, around some of the flowers, today, and I am fine with that, but, I didn't necessarily want a whole beehive.
DeleteIt was good that you didn't rush to have them removed. I hope they found a good place, preferably away from humans, to make their home. I have had bumble bees nesting under my shed before. They were calm and quiet, and caused no trouble.
ReplyDeleteElla
Thank you; I was hoping that they would move on their own. I had read that, often, the scout bees would have already picked a suitable spot for a new hive before they leave the old hive and migrate. Maybe they just needed to rest and take a break before they did the next leg of their journey.
DeleteI often have wasp nests under my eaves and I usually leave them in place. I'm glad your bumble bees caused no trouble.