EPiSODE 911 AMDREW’S BEES HAVE SWARMED

alan skeoch

Nov. 5, 2023

“Dad, have a chunk of honey.    All that is left of four bee hives.   One bite for each of us.  What happened?”

OUR SON ANDREW lost four of his five bee hives in the lsat 6 weeks?  They swarmed.  A bunch of the bees and a queen just took off.   Then the others did the same.   Leaves him with one hive.

Why did this happen?  Bees are smart    But these bees seem to have a low I.Q.   Why take off in a swarm in late October?   Winter not he way  Thousands of them seem to face a sure and

certsin death.   Most bees swarm in the spring.  Why did Andrew’s bees swarm when the leaves were falling and the nectar giving flowers were dying?

I know there are bee lee[ers eep read these stories.   Starvation is a reason for some swarming.  But these hives had stocked up on honey…yet when we looked at the hives they were near empty

Some mice were chewing in one hive and a cloud of wasps were catching a few free meals.  But no bees.   No bee messenger had been left behind to say:”Andrew we have taken a hike. If you want us

back we are over in Bobb Kerr’s south field fence line.”   No message, however.

Prime Bee Swarm

A primary bee swarm is the most common form of bee swarm and is the first bee swarm to leave the hive. It is usually made up of around 50% of the size of the parent colony, which is normally around 25,000 bees. It also contains the queen bee.

Absconding Bee Swarm

An absconding bee swarm does not happen very often and is the result of problems in the beehive such as starvation, pests overtaking the hive, or disease. If an absconding bee swarm happens, all the bees will leave the hive instead of splitting like in swarming. In this case, very few if any bees will be left in the beehive.