Swarm!

So I'm outside puttering with the petunias, when I notice a buzzing sound that seems to be getting louder. I'm thinking maybe there's a bee in the vicinity and I look around to find it. The buzzing is getting louder, and I both slowly and suddenly become aware that the noise is emanating from the large roiling and pulsing black cloud that is heading straight for me! Neither fight nor flight kicks in, and I'm standing there mutely as I watch it get closer. Finally, after checking to see whether I've soiled myself, I find my voice and start calling for Dan!

Fortunately, between me and the bees is a tree, a great big tree, oh glory be! As Dan arrives on the scene, they are clustering on a branch in the tree. He's as gobsmacked as I am by the sight.


Swarming bees clustering on the branch of an ash (click any picture to enlarge it)




By the time Grandpa and G arrive, they've settled down quite a bit. Most of them are clustered on the branch, with a few stray ones flying around. Dan calls a professional apiarist who lives near by. He shows up and tells us that it's likely that one of our hives has swarmed. He, Dan and G go out to the hives to investigate. Both have thriving colonies and lots of honey. He says that Hive 1 is so successful that the queen has taken some of the colony to start a new one, leaving a "virgin queen" behind to continue the established colony.


Swarm protecting their queen. The apiarist estimated that there were 6 to 8 pounds of bees in the cluster.



Only a few scouts are sent out to find a new home. Left to their own devices, they'd probably have been gone within 24 hours.

The apiarist brought along an empty hive. Without Hazmat suit or gloves, he climbed a step ladder, positioned the hive under the cluster, knocked the branch against the side twice, and came down with the box full of about 95% of the bees. He said the rest would return to the hive they'd swarmed from. He put the lid on the hive and off he went. And that was our excitement for the day!





Dislodging the cluster into the hive