Why swarm of bees

But now back to the honey bee colony. There is only one honey bee queen, and there are now thousands and thousands of workers. There comes a point when the crowd is so great, that not all of the workers have access to the queen. They are no longer receiving her pheromone signals, and so for them, she is non-existent!

This induces within these workers the need to create a new honey bee queen. Before the new queen emerges, the old queen takes off with part of the colony to establish a new nest, but before leaving their original colony, all of the honey bees will fill themselves up on nectar. Once the swarm has left its old nest or hive, this is when we might see a whirling mass of swarming bees in the air, or a bee swarm settled on the branch of a tree or possibly somewhere not so convenient!

The reason a bee swarm looks like a clump of honey bees , is because all of the workers are gathered around the queen, hence forming a clump. However, the queen is not the strongest of flyers, and so inevitably will need to rest at some point — perhaps on a branch, post or fence. Upon finding possible sites, the scouts will return back to the the swarm and perform a waggle dance to tell other colony members about the location of the site. Eventually, the whole swarm will go through a kind of democratic process in which the members of the colony decide which location would be best.

The swarm is then, arguably an excellent example of collective intelligence in the animal kingdom or we could call it the hive mind. Seeley notes:. When bees swarm they are very vulnerable. They have no home. Their Queen is fairly exposed, though she is in the center of the cluster surrounded by thousands of workers. They are surviving off food the workers gorged on before leaving their old hive. Over the next two or three days the swarm will stay in their cluster as scout bees fly off in search of a new home.

Once a new home is chosen through an incredible democratic system the swarm flies off once again and moves into their new home. So what do you do if you see a swarm? First off, take a picture! To find a swarm of bees is an incredible, and often rare sight to witness.

Don't be afraid to get a bit close and watch what the bees are doing. If you watch closely you may even witness them voting on their new home with their signature wiggle dance. Always remember though, if you choose to get closer to a swarm, or even a hive, always move slowly and never swat! Second, leave a small bowl of water out nearby with stones or corks in it so the bees can have a drink this is actually a good thing to do in your own backyard or on a porch - pollinators will love it!

Licensed pest control operators, listed in the Yellow Pages of the telephone directory, or online, will exterminate bees. The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia does not remove swarms or exterminate bee nests.

Bee swarms. Page last updated: Friday, 19 January - am. Please note: This content may be out of date and is currently under review. Bee swarm settling on a tin can. Bee swarm in a jacaranda tree.

Author Bill Trend. External Links Western Australian Apiarists' website. Share Tweet Share. Short URL.