Who has bees this year?

[slackmaster]

I have a swarm in my bottlebrush tree. This is the first one I've seen here in several years.



The word is that 80% of feral honeybees in the area are Africanized, so I'm giving them a wide berth.

[DUgosh]

1. Not many swarms this year in South Texas

But we had plenty of bees when the Lacy Oaks were blooming

[MuseRider]

2. Loaded with them.

I started a prairie/wildflower restoration on my farm around the house and let the clover grow along with everything else. You open the windows and it smells so sweet and you can hear the soft buzz of the bees. Walking through the area they are everywhere.

Here is picture taken of the front of my house. You can't see much of it but it is full of Cinquefoil, Rose Verbena, Hoary Vervain, Fleabane and every kind of clover that grows around here and look at that Mullien! This "garden" came up this year without a single bit of help. This is only a bit of it. Bees everywhere. My pastures around the entire front and side of the house all the way to the pond look like this.

I certainly have not seen a swarm like you have though. Wow.

[bvar22]

3. We have about 200,000.....

...in the back yard.
We currently have four healthy (European) colonies, and hope to have two more by the end of Summer.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x34941


A word of caution about the swarm in your yard.
They won't attack while swarming, so you are safe for today.
However, they are swarming because they are looking for a new home, and may find one close by.
THEN, they will be dangerous (if Africanized).

If you notice an increase in foraging bees over the next couple of days, it is possible that they relocated near or on your property. The foraging bees won't bother you, but if they have started a new hive and you come close to the new hive, you could be in trouble (if they are Africanized).

I would suggest that you keep your eyes and ears open over the next few days. If you notice an increase in foraging bees, you can determine the location of their hive just by watching them.
After they have their fill of nectar, they will make a "beeline" back to their hive, but please be careful. Africanized Bees are nothing to play with.


Swarms of wild bees should be reported if you are within the Africanized zone.

[slackmaster]

4. Thanks for the info - My small swarm moved on about four hours after I took that photo

They left behind a trace of a honey scent that had been pretty strong when I got brave enough to walk within a few feet of the bivouac.

When I was in college (late 1970s) I was brave enough to put my hand into a bivouac of swarming bees. I wouldn't try it now, even though experts all say they aren't dangerous.

[bvar22]

7. My wife and I have handled local swarms.

We always suit up (full bee suits).
But some members of our local BeeKeepers association will handle them with bare hands.

In most places behind the Africanized Line, wild swarms are simply killed, and that may be good policy. We (my wife & I) won't try to capture wild swarms, but there are some old timers here who have been keeping bees since forever, and they do capture wild swarms.

While our county (Polk County, Arkansas) is behind the Africanized Line, there have been no reports of Africanized Bees within our County....but we think it is only a matter of time. A good cold Winter could push the line back (Africanized Bees are semi-tropical, and won't store enough honey to survive a long, cold Winter), but current warming trends discount that hope.
You are out of luck for a long, cold Winter in San Diego, but CITRUS more than makes up for that. We would LOVE to grow some Citrus here, but there is a brief cold snap every year that makes that near impossible.

Since we keep our hives close to our house, we are careful to monitor our hives. Small Scale de-centralized, responsible BeeKeeping is one of the best defenses against Africanization, and may be the answer to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

BTW: Cool Swarm photo

[conscious evolution]

5. Lots of them

One of my housemates is working on propogating them to help offset the die off.

[LiberalEsto]

6. I've seen 2 honeybees in my yard this year

In recent years I haven't seen any. These bees were in the hyssop flowers.

I grow a lot of bee attracting flowers in order to entice them to pollinate the vegetables -- various salvias, betony, lavender, catmint, coreopsis, true hyssop, agastache (sometimes called anise hyssop) and a slew of others. Usually we just see bumblers, sweat bees and those wacky mason bees that go around head-butting the other bees out of their territories.

It is alarming to see a big patch of white clover in full bloom with not even a single bee in it.

[Vinca]

8. I've seen lots of bumble bees on my rhododendron bush, but

no honey bees. My flowers haven't bloomed in the veg. garden and I hope when they do it will attract some bees. Last year's squash crop was dismal.

[ginnyinWI]

9. we just got rid of a paper wasp nest on the front porch.

We knocked it down and put it in the woods, wasps and all. (put in a plastic bin--we are softies and don't like to kill things.) Then sprayed the area with Raid to keep them from rebuilding. Now the porch stinks of Raid--will go and scrub it off again in a few days! Porch will soon be screened in, so we had to act or be stung in the process of building.

[tigereye]

10. just some honeybees in my flowering privet hedge and some of those

fuzzy bees, who aren't bees... ? I've seen a number of bees in my flowers and gardens, but not a lot. I have seen the first Red Admiral butterflies of the summer, though.

I've never seen a swarm close up.