Collecting a Wild Honeybee Swarm (VIDEO)

In this video, beekeeper Matt Reed demonstrates how to collect a wild honeybee swarm. This one is about 2 pounds in size, or 7,000 bees. A swarm may range in size anywhere between roughly 1000 to 30,000 bees, and relies upon a small contingent of scouts to find a suitable home. They then relay that information back to the collective. It is believed that honeybee scouts perform an acoustic dance to convey their enthusiasm for a potential site. Eventually, a consensus is reached among the group, and one site is chosen to become the new home. Suitable housing exists in hollow trees or logs, but may also be chosen inside man-made structures including hollow walls, and under porches or eves.

Reed does not treat his bees with any chemicals, but relies instead upon natural selection (those bees that survive without any treatments) to confer their genetic resistance to disease and parasite infection. By maintaining disease resistance in their genetic stock, Reed hopes to develop strains of bees that will remain hearty over time, and be entirely free of the need for chemical treatments, or medications to sustain their populations.

To read the entire post, go to Cooking Up a Story.

 

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Comments

[JBS]

10:51 PM on 06/15/2011

Video won't stream and you can't pause it to let it buffer. Not very green!

[Rebecca Gerendasy]

11:02 AM on 06/16/2011

Sorry for the difficulty. Sometimes a page doesn't load correctly the first time, try refreshing your browser and see if that takes care of the problem. I'm assuming from your comment that the video never loaded at all.

[FTracy3]

03:16 PM on 06/15/2011

"A swarm may range in size anywhere between roughly 1000 to 30,000 bees," Who counts a swarm? one, two, three, OUCH! four, five, OW!.....

[nightingale801]

12:49 PM on 06/15/2011

I would really enjoy reading comments from professional beekeepers and entomologists. Nothing more nothing less.

[Bogstomper2]

02:28 AM on 06/15/2011

If you're interested in beekeeping, the links at the end of the article are a great place to start. Bush Farms is mostly articles. Biobees has an active forum where I've learned a lot about natural beekeeping. (btw, I go by Texican at Biobees. Stop by and say hi.)

I just started beekeeping this year using top bar hives, so I'm far from an expert on the subject, but I can tell you it's a lot of fun. It's fun building the hives, and it's fun watching the bees. If you go the full natural route and use feral bees to stock your hive, you can also help preserve healthy bee genetics in your area.

Kudos to Cooking Up a Story for highlighting the connection between honeybees and cooking. Bees have been important to humanity's diet for a long time. It behooves us to take good care of them.

[gaudeamus]

07:15 PM on 06/14/2011

A couple of seasons ago, a colony of honey bees established itself in the hollow block wall of my garage. Although I live in an densely populated urban neighborhood, I had planned on leaving the bees undisturbed. Unfortunately my neighbor kept bringing the colony to my attention, so I finally caved and hired an exterminator. I asked if relocation would be an option, but apparently keepers are reluctant to take on a wild colony that originates in an urban area. I felt that I had no choice but to have the colony eliminated. So sad in light of the current problem with the bee population.

[Rebecca Gerendasy]

10:33 AM on 06/15/2011

Both of the beekeepers I followed live in an urban area & collect bee swarms throughout the city. I wonder why the beekeepers you mentioned are "reluctant to take on a wild colony that originates in an urban area". Perhaps it was because of the location and the level of difficulty to successfully remove it? Did they happen to mention why?

[gaudeamus]

06:03 PM on 06/15/2011

Thank you for your interest. The technician from the company I hired is the source of my information regarding the reluctance of beekeepers' taking in wild urban colonies. Of course he could have said that merely to protect his business interest in exterminating my colony, but I had no way to challenge his assertion. To paraphrase his rationale, he alleged that beekeepers wanted to avoid wild urban bees because the sources of their pollen are questionable. I interpreted that to mean "contaminated urban environment = contaminated pollen = uncertain quality of honey." But if that is a concern, couldn't the keeper cycle out the "bad honey" in a season or two by discarding it?

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

08:17 PM on 06/15/2011

strange that they said that the beekeepers wouldn't be interested (not doubting your story, mind you). We had a swarm pass through our yard a few years ago...very large swarm that enveloped a young tree like a sweater covering all of the top half of the tree...it was easily three feet long. I called an exterminator to see who I should call if they stayed (my son with autism is allergic to bee stings.). I wasn't interested in exterminating them just wanted info if they became a problem. The company gave me names of beekeepers to call and said that they weren't allowed to kill honeybees that weren't causing harm in NJ. They also said that the swarm was probably just resting overnight as the air cooled. Sure enough, the next day in the warm noontime air, they took off. We were able to follow them in the car for a half mile or so. We live in the country so the swarm was easy to see. It was very fascinating.

[gaudeamus]

06:39 AM on 06/16/2011

That is a fascinating story. Thanks for sharing it.