Meanwhile in New Zealand …

While Canadian honey bees are hopefully staying warm in their hives, honey bees in New Zealand are in the peak of their honey collecting season. This also includes the phenomena of swarming.

The above picture is a beautiful example of not one, but two honey bee swarms in a tree. Each swarm contains thousands and thousands of bees.

So why would honey bees leave the comfort of a hive and strike out on their own to hang, unprotected, in a tree?

The original queen, in the original hive has created so many bees that they have become overpopulated. At this point, the worker bees begin to create new queens. Before these new queens hatch, the original queen will leave the hive, and swarm. When she does this, about half the bees in the colony will accompany her. Once out of the hive, she will pick a location (like a branch in a tree) and her dedicated workers will surround and cover her for protection. She will wait here until a suitable new home has been found.

Numerous scout bees go right to work. A scout bee’s job is to scope out new digs. Upon finding a plausible location, she comes back to the swarm and performs a waggle dance giving directions to a possible new home.

When everyone agrees on a location, the swarm as a whole, will move to the new location and set up house.

Or ... a lucky beekeeper discovers the swarm and proceeds to ‘catch the swarm.’

One plan of action is to set a brood box under the swarm. This is where you want the bees to land when you ‘snap’ the branch. If at all possible, grab the end of the branch, and literally give it a good snap down. This will dislodge the bees and they will fall into the box. Some usually stay, but more than a few will take exception to the disruption and you end up in a cloud of not so happy honey bees! Full bee suits are generally appreciated at this point!!

An inspection of the box to see if you can spot the queen is imperative. This is the secret to swarm catching. Once you have the queen, you have her bees. You can gently scoop, or brush the remaining bees from the branch into the box. Leaving the box in place, as long as the queen is there, gives the scouts time to rejoin their colony. The box, with the swarm inside, can be moved after dark to a suitable location.

Liz and Jordan, our New Zealand beekeepers, are proud owners of three hives! All acquired by skillful swarm catching!