08-30-2008, 05:53 AM
If you find a swarm when it hasn't gone inside of a structure, just a big dripping ball of bees on a branch you can literally pick them up to move them and not get stung. Put them inside of a big wooden box at the back of your garden and they will stay inside the box and not go into your house. Pollinates the garden real well and if you can find a bee box for them soon enough they can be relocated into the bee box but once they settle into somewhere they are hard to move.
When bees get overcrowded in a hive, they make a new queen and the old queen bee takes half the hive and goes off looking for a new home. The bees take as much honey from the old hive as they can carry so they will be able to start a new hive. Since they are so swollen with honey they are unable to sting. Seeing the bees while flying in a swarm is really impressive. They send out scouts to go look for a new hive site and will halt and rest on tree branches occasionally while waiting for the scout bees to get back. Once the scouts have found a new home the whole swarm moves in.
It is at that point, where the bees don't have a hive to protect and are swollen with honey that they are safe to handle without a bee suit. However, they had already moved into the house when Angela first found them so this wasn't an option for her at the time, but if you see a swarm on the move and want some bees this is a perfect time to get them.
When bees get overcrowded in a hive, they make a new queen and the old queen bee takes half the hive and goes off looking for a new home. The bees take as much honey from the old hive as they can carry so they will be able to start a new hive. Since they are so swollen with honey they are unable to sting. Seeing the bees while flying in a swarm is really impressive. They send out scouts to go look for a new hive site and will halt and rest on tree branches occasionally while waiting for the scout bees to get back. Once the scouts have found a new home the whole swarm moves in.
It is at that point, where the bees don't have a hive to protect and are swollen with honey that they are safe to handle without a bee suit. However, they had already moved into the house when Angela first found them so this wasn't an option for her at the time, but if you see a swarm on the move and want some bees this is a perfect time to get them.
Kurt Wilson