Honeybee Swarm Collection – South Herefordshire

Honeybee Swarm Collection – South Herefordshire

by | Apr 18, 2022 | The Hive

Found a swarm of bees on your property and would like it removed? We may be able to help. If you have a beekeeper near you, the chances of finding a swarm of bees clumped on a tree in your garden,  on the roof of your house or even on your windows pane is very high.  

If you find such transient visitors on your property in South Herefordshire, please contact us. We may be able to help you move them to a good home. 

 

Swarm in May is worth a load of hay

Swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; but a swarm in July is not worth a fly.

This 17th century beekeeper saying shows how valuable a swarm of bees is to a beekeeper, depending on the time during the swarming season. These days, depending on the location of the apiary, swarming starts as early as April. It can last till as late as August.

 

What is swarming?

Swarming occurs when the space available in a hive for a colony of bees is getting too small for the population. The queen and thousands of worker bees “swarm”. The swarming usually happens in two stages. 

The bees that are swarming would have identified a new hive to move to. At the date and time they decide to swarm, the queen and all the workers she is taking with her will come out of the hive, cluster on a tree, wall or any other item. When they are ready, they all “swarm” to their new home. 

If you saw a swarm of bees on a tree in your front garden. If you leave them alone, they will actually leave eventually. The transit state of the swarming process is when honeybees are most docile. They rarely even sting when they are swarming.

 

 

Swarming or related sites and pages

  • Herefordshire beekeepers swarm collectors page. You may find beekeepers who are happy to collect swarms in other parts of Herefordshire.
  • Honeybees or bumblebees? If you are not sure whether the bees on your property are honey bees or bumble bees. You may find more information about bumblebees here: https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/
Video of 2 honey bees working together to open a bottle of fizzy drink

Video of 2 honey bees working together to open a bottle of fizzy drink

by | Jul 9, 2021 | Natural Beekeeping

In this   interesting video, two honey bees are seen working together, to open a bottle of popular orange flavoured fizzy drink, Fanta. The video was said to have been filmed in Brazil. The woman doing the filmin said in Portuguese The bees teamed up to steal my soda”. The video was shared on YouTube by “ViralHog” 

Bees, especially honeybees, are very clever creatures both individually, or as part of up to 59,000 other bees in a colony, which is recognised as a single, superorganism.  We came across the  news of the video of the  two bees that opened a bottle of Fanta, while researching The Hive’s facts about bees page.  If you are curious about any aspect of the honey bee’s life, you should visit the page. You will find amazing and interesting information, including the fact that bees do recognize and remember people’s faces, despite having a brain the size of a sesame seed. 

If you find beekeeping fascinating and want to know more about it, a beginner’s beekeeping book will teach you beekeeping fundamentals. You will also find in the beginner’s guide the importance of bees in the ecosystem, where you learn the significant role bees play in our environment and why perhaps, through your engagement in natural beekeeping, you would also be doing humanity a great favour by playing your part in the effort to tackle the decline in bee populations. 

Beekeeping is one of the oldest human’s pastimes, dating back to over a thousand years ago. But that does not diminish the unfortunate fact that the decline in bee populations is not unconnected to human endeavours —- some of which are mindless. It is however  heartening to see various ecological innovations by the same humans attempt at curbing the alarming decrease in these  honey-making insects’ numbers. 

Tags:  bees video, honey bees, bee facts, bees trivia, intelligent bee, beekeeping book, technologies in beekeeping