BS: We had a bee swarm today

Subject: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: JennieG
Date: 11 Oct 11 - 11:14 PM

Or should that be a swarm of bees? Whatever......there were lots of the little fellers attached to a small tree in our front yard late yesterday. One even had the temerity to come inside with Himself when he returned home just after dark, and it stung me on my thumb (which is a bit of an ouch).

So this morning we rang a local beekeeper who came with a smoker, and a box for the queen bee and her groupies, and a few hours later he took the box away. But there are still quite a number of bees hanging onto a branch, hopefully they will now follow the queen to wherever she has gone?

The small tree is right beside the letterbox, which makes checking the box rather a fraught exercise. What with a glass cooking dish exploding in the kitchen the other night, and a bee swarm, it's never dull here on the hill.

Cheers
Jennie

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: open mike
Date: 12 Oct 11 - 06:25 AM

this usually happens in june around here...are you in the southern hemisphere?

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: JennieG
Date: 12 Oct 11 - 06:49 AM

In Oz, Laurel - it's spring here, so bees are on the move.

Cheers
Jennie

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: Deckman
Date: 12 Oct 11 - 08:44 AM

OUCH! I had a similar misshap about 7 weeks ago. I stepped on a ground nest of hornets. I got stung 22 times. I did all the approriate first aid ... I was fine for the first week. Then all Billy Hell happened. I got serious infection in both legs, my eyes swelled almost shut, etc. Three trips to the medical clinics kept the poisen from killing me ... but it wasn't pleasant.

Be carefull and watch ... monitor ... yourself very carefully. Those little buggers can insert venom in your body that can do serious damage. bob

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Oct 11 - 10:38 AM

I'm sorry to hear about that Deckman. It sounds awful, and I'm glad it's over. Thanks for the warning, too. I had no idea stings could get so serious.

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: open mike
Date: 12 Oct 11 - 04:50 PM

honey bees can only sting once...thankfully
and the fact that they die after that is
some satisfaction...

killer bees are on the move northward...
africanized bees have a different stinging habit....

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: JennieG
Date: 12 Oct 11 - 05:03 PM

Ouch, Bob!

Fortunately I already had a GP appointment today for something else, so I will show her my thumb....it's red, swollen and quite sore. It's quite a handy thing, that thumb, and I would like to keep it.

It's been interesting, I have never seen a swarm before. The first beekeeper I rang got in touch with me yesterday (she was away when I rang) - she said the beekeeper who came should have left the box for a whole day, and removed it at night when the bees are quiet and had all gone in the box. Now we are left with a large number still on the tree who will die because they have been left behind, they don't have a hive any more so can't be relocated. Meanwhile, going into our front yard is a fraught exercise.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 12 Oct 11 - 06:37 PM

Better than a bee scold

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: Janie
Date: 12 Oct 11 - 06:38 PM

Are honeybees undergoing serious decline in Australia from mites and viruses as they are in many other places?

We kept bees (unsuccessfully) for a few years and so I witnessed several swarms. Pretty amazing.

Was looking at assorted websites about honey bees and the following clear and concise article on both the life cycle and the problems with mites and viruses. Honeybee life cycle and diseases 101.

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: Cats
Date: 12 Oct 11 - 07:05 PM

I keep bees and would have loved to have collected your swarm but as it's a few thousand miles away... never mind. Beekeepers usually leave a white sheet down with either a skep or a box propped up on it after they have shaken the main swarm down into it. They come back in the early evening as this is when the bees are less active. This means that the bees left on the branch will follow the queen into the skep and watching this happen is amazing. They just calmly walk up after her. The ones that are left will just fly away unless the beekeeper didn't get the queen. If they are still there tomorrow phone him back as there may be another young queen amongst them and this may be the reason they swarmed.
as for being stung, a bee will only sting as a last resort. If you get dtung by a bee flick the sting out, don't squeeze as that will make the sting go deeper. wasps and hornets can sting multiple times but bees will die as soon as they have stung as they pull off their abdomen in doing so. Don't get frantic and flap about near bees as that will only attract them to you. Move away slowly and stand near a bush or under a tree and the bees will fly away. not so wasps! Bees also get disturbed by manufactured smells like perfume, aftershave, shampoo etc. so you are more likely to attract bees if you have those on and are near a hive.

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: JennieG
Date: 12 Oct 11 - 11:42 PM

Cats, thank you for that advice, if we still have our smaller swarm I will ring the beekeeper again tomorrow. I would like them re-housed safely because the world needs bees. He seemed to think he had gotten the queen yesterday morning, can there be more than one queen in a swarm?

Janie, I believe there are some problems in Ox with bee viruses, but a very large threat is the bees coming from Asia - they are wiping out the local populations.

Less than an hour to see the doctor.....

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Oct 11 - 04:29 AM

sending a hug, JennieG


Aussie Native Bee Reseach Centre

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 13 Oct 11 - 05:11 AM

A bee does not necessarily die after stinging (I have read). If the person stung remains completely still the sting (and other internal organs) will not be ripped from the bee. The bee will then be able to unscrew the barbed sting from the victim, retract it, and depart.

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: DrugCrazed
Date: 13 Oct 11 - 05:49 AM

iirc, a hive has one queen. If a new one is born then once it matures it flies off and takes half of the hive with it. But that's working from vague memories of an overheard conversation

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: JennieG
Date: 13 Oct 11 - 08:20 AM

DrugCrazed, that's what I thought too. The beekeeper told us that an older queen flies off with a group of workers, and that's the swarm - they are looking for a new nesting site. Scout bees fly around looking for a site, and when they find it the whole swarm moves to the selected site.

Doctor said the thumb won't fall off, and the soreness and redness will settle down in a few more days. That's good to know.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Oct 11 - 08:21 AM

"You have to tell the bees of each birth and death and wedding.
If you don't tell the bees then they'll move on.
And the land must have its bees for the pollen that needs spreading.
But who will tell the bees when I am gone?"

from Claire Bear's lovely song.


Someone must have neglected to tell these bees something.

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: JennieG
Date: 13 Oct 11 - 05:48 PM

Ah.....perhaps I should try telling the bees "it's been lovely to have you, now you can move along please thank you"?

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: We had a bee swarm today
From: Janie
Date: 13 Oct 11 - 11:18 PM

thanks for the link, Sandra.

Bees, honey or otherwise, are fascinating creatures.