Why Do Honey Bees Swarm? Why Do They Do That? Is It Normal? Are swarming bees dangerous?
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2019
- Today I answer some basic questions about why honey bees swarm.
Every healthy living thing is designed to reproduce. Honey bees are no different, sure they produce young inside the hive, but as a super-organism, entire colonies give birth to new colonies and that is often a sign of health.
It can also be a sign of a failing Queen, or evidence that the colony is not happy with the hive location.
Some feral colonies of honey bees survive varroa infestations by swarming and causing a break in the brood cycle which the varroa depend upon for their reproduction.
It's my opinion that swarming is healthy and it's a dramatic event that is always fun to observe.
Have you found a swarm? Please don't call an exterminator, call a beekeeper!
YES! in response to those generous viewers who have asked how they can support my work, please follow this link: / 3494368
How do Honeybees make their mind up as a super-organism? Check out one of my favorite bee books by Dr. Thomas Seeley - the Honeybee Democracy: amzn.to/34D96Ju
Thanks for watching and enjoying the spectacle of swarming honeybees!
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Why Bees Swarm
1. Overcrowded Hive
2. Old Queen Leaving Hive For New Queen
3. Insects overtaking hive, Wax Moth, Ants, Beetles, etc.
4 Poor Location Of Resources, Pollen & Honey. Even Too Close To Poor Resources, such as Dumps & Schools.
5. Animals Destroying Hive. Sometimes Hive Collapse & Too Much To Save
6. People In & Out Of Hive Too Much.
7. Workers Convincing Hive Of Better Location.
This was a good video & remember, Swarms are generally not a threat.
Good Luck
All good points John, thanks for sharing!
I'm here after my friend showed me his bees. I love your explanation. Clear and soothing. Please post more!
Thank you so much!
Lovely! Your voice is almost as soothing as the buzzing bees!
Good morning Fred! I can't think of a better way to explain swarms than this. When asked, I'm just going to provide this link. They will be entranced by the beauty of your videography and possibly hypnotized by your voice. And as a beekeeper, it's going to make me look really cool!
Dan, you're "really cool" without sharing my videos, but I'll take it!!!! :) I hived that swarm first thing this morning and let me tell you, it's a good thing I put a full bee-suit on... let's say they were not happy to be "bagged-and-boxed"... stung right through the suit (';') - I double dog dare any beekeeper to attempt a large swarm like that without protection - it's gonna hurt! 10 lbs was an underestimate. Yes, before you ask, I videoed it all.
@@FrederickDunn Thanks Fred! That's awesome, I'm glad you had your suit on, but it sounds like you need an Ultra Breeze if they stung you. How well did your nitrile gloves do? I've only had them sting mine once when I pried open an inner cover with my hand instead of using my tool. Otherwise, they seem to look for somewhere else to sting. But I wasn't housing over 10 pounds of bees either.
@@danskisbees7348 I have never been stung through my nitrile gloves - but, I had my goat-skin FLOW gloves on for this one - I just had that "feeling" and I was right. The stings were on my right upper arm - I asked my wife if she was impressed with my "sting enhanced" arm musculature -... (';') apparently not impressive enough.. she went shopping...( ';')
@@FrederickDunn LOL!
Best swarm video I have ever seen and excellent job of describing what swarms are and why they swarm
Thank you Dan!
Fred, you have such a talent for teaching. I appreciate it so much. This video and your information pulled together (or straightened out) a lot of information in my head that I didn't even realize was there. Hope that makes sense. I watch other videos that mention and show things such as swarm cells, but they don't always explain why or the differences. You've also calmed my nerves on a couple of issues. Thanks so much!
Good morning Mary, yeah, he just brings it all together in a beautiful work of art. Just don't watch when you need a nap, because his voice will put you to sleep, lol.
@@danskisbees7348 LOL you are so correct! Such a soothing voice. Same goes for Anthony Hopkins. Oprah had him read parts on a newspaper. Didn't matter what he was saying, his voice just calms you down!
Thanks! Every time you post something I learn something about bees.
Wow! Another swarm!!! Blows my mind how many times they have swarmed this year. I appreciate you letting them do their thing so that you can teach the rest of us! LoL!!! Thank you Sir, for another amazing video!!!
Good morning Larry! I know, right. He might as well start calling his observation hive, the "Swarm Hive", lol. Fred, I hope you haven't thrown out all of your old comb yet, lol.
@Dan Ski's Bees - Good morning Dan. LoL!!! Indeed!!! Fred’s Fine Fowls and Honeybee Swarms!
@@LarryLeesBees Lol! That is so cool! All of the swarms are a bonus for all of the work he put into the hive.
Larry and Dan, I have failed utterly this year!!! I have never wanted to be managing more than 10 colonies... yet, here I sit with 15! Something is in the water! I had a couple here talking about potentially keeping honey bees - well... I'm gifting entire hives with bees in spring, assuming they make it. This is the most productive bee and honey year I've had. I was out visiting the BetterComb hive that I put the August swarm in and it's overflowing with bees and honey- check my Facebook page for a photo that I took tonight! facebook.com/Freds-Fine-Fowl-167853353261108/ I have never witnessed a hive beard like that!
@@FrederickDunn What a problem to have, pretty soon, you'll be gifting Flow hives, lol.
Spiders scare me yet honey and bumble bees bring me comfort
Wow. Fred your voice and info is just unbelievable.
Fred, excellent cinematography, you truly have a gift.
Frederick - Great camera work ! I love watching your videos. Best, David
Thank you!
Thanks Fred. In Australia, we're coming into our Spring swarming period. Any info on this topic is much appreciated. With only 3 hives to attend to despite its wonderment, I can't help but be just a tad nervous with the whole process.Let's hope for a smooth transition overall, thanks again!
Rebecca, you are going to gain a lot more confidence and knowledge this year. Congratulations on getting them through the winter. Here's a link to one of Fred's swarm catching videos, he also does another catch in FAQ 31. ruclips.net/video/NjlLhJwqAoU/видео.html
Enjoy!
I love your videos. My question for you is, how do you know what is still available for resources? How do you know what is coming into bloom and what pollen is available. I live in Nebraska and can't find what blooms at certain times to know like you said in the video of what will be coming available. I hope this question makes sense. Thanks again for all your great videos.
Another educational masterpiece, Fred!
Thank you so much!!! And btw, I really enjoyed our discussion at the last beekeeper breakfast!
I really love the way you talk and explain. Very relaxing
Thank you very much! :)
Great bee footage, another superb highly informative video. I actually had a HUGE swarm of dragonflies just yesterday (Ohio) behind the house....looked to be at least 500 or more, flying at high rate of speed zig zagging everywhere for over an hour! Amazing spectacle to see!!
THAT is something I have never seen and would love getting on camera!!! Wow, I never even heard of a dragon fly swarm! I hope you nabbed some video!
@@FrederickDunn I had never seen or heard of it either. I did try to get pictures and/or video, unfortunately it was getting dark & they barely showed up on screen. I was pretty bummed out, as I'll probably never see a swarm like that again. Love your channel....thanks for the reply & have a great day!
Great video with great information ❤️❤️👌
Thank you for ‘teaching and sharing.’ I have a completely different understanding of bee swarms than I had before watching this video.
Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it.
Fantastic Fred! Wonderful video. I imagine the dialogue was “off-the-cuff” or maybe the questions were your prompts. Anyway and any way the presentation was gr8, m8! Learnt lots as usual. Cheers and may winter be kind... BTW... did you set up a swarm trap? Hope to see you collect the colony even if to give it away.
Hi John, I never follow a script, I just enjoy talking as I would if someone were here drinking cappuccino and talking about bees :) I need to do a LIVE Q and A one of these days... thanks as always for your nice comments!
Fred, thank you for the video and for all the wealth of information. Would love to see a video of you capturing the swarm and starting a new hive. I really enjoy your videos as they are very inspiring and will play be a large part in my hobby of starting bee keeping. Thank you again...
Rob S. (Rockford MI)
Hi Robert, I am in the process of making that hiving video. I collected them this morning and will wrap up the sequences by noon as they are still moving into the box(s) I provided. It will be a great follow up for this video. Stay tuned, it's impressive!
Another excellent video.
Hope you caught and reboxed 'em ol' mate. Way too many bees there to give away.
Great camera work Fred, enjoyed it immensely.
Thanks.
🇦🇺 🍺🍺 🐝🐝
Always great to see your comments! Yes, they are all snug in a double box hive as of this morning. Storms are coming in strong tonight, so it was just in time. 100% drawn comb, so they can go straight to work.
BRILLIANT!!! Well done.
Now I'm a happy chappy, lol.
And the bees are happy, lol. New home!
Thank you so much for this video.
The subject is just perfect and it's in the right timing too!
I have one hive that I bought from a beekeeper in July, it was a swarm that he catches. It was in a 10 frame Dadant boxe and when I got it I was hoping to get some honey this year, I live in Paris so the nectar flow is not abondante. I added a super to the deep but the bees didn't touch it, the only thing they did to it is putting propolis everywhere. The summer is over now and I decided to take the super out and prepare the bees for winter. The activity of the bees was slow thought the summer.
I took off the super and I started to feed them. (There were a good nombre of bees occupying the super) so they are condensed on the deep now.
The activity start to go up ! The traffic of the bees is very good and the conception of the sugar water is fast too ...I don't understand what is happening ...are they preparing them selves to swarm ?
The tow latiral frames in the deep are not finished ..so I'm telling my self that they have a bit more space.
What do you think Fred ?
I would not have removed that empty super "yet", particularly if they were sealing it up with propolis as they need the storage for the sugar syrup you're feeding now. If you didn't see any Queen-Cells in the lower box at the brood frame edges, or supercedure queen cells in the middle or in the field of brood frames, then they aren't making preparations for swarming. I would leave them with the Deep Box and a Medium Super for winter. As we are getting late into the year, it's also a good time not to open the boxes so they can do their winter preparations with propolis which seals them up nicely and provides an antiviral layer inside the hive. Each time we open the hive, that has to be redone by the bees. I wish you all the best!
@@FrederickDunn thank you for your time and patience! ... should I put the super back ? ...they didn't finish building the out side deep frames in two months so I thought that it's going to be hard for them to build the super ...I'm wondering where they are putting all the syrup that they drink.
Great PSA, Thank you Fred.
Good information and Video ,thanks
I am new to your channel & I am currently learning here in Australia about keeping bees it is so interesting. Your video was exceptional Thank You & I will be following more. Cheers Denise- Australia
Hello Denise! Welcome to my channel, and I'm so glad that you have found some useful information here :)
I wish this swarm all the best
They are all snug in a new hive body and should do fine :) They did not like being handled!
@@FrederickDunn I wish them rapid success as the winter comes fast in your area.
But how dare them not to like being handled by the best they have no manners shame on them :):):)
It's 02:15, I'm going to save this treat for my morning coffee.
And it is a treat. Always love his videos. And a big plus is his soothing voice. Calms me.
@@brandishoogy Definitely!
I was just trying to do gardening, all of a sudden I heard buzzing! I looked up and the whole yard was covered with bees from the bee hives next door ! What a sight the way they all flew together like snow during a blizzard! Why did the erupt like that ? I’m just curious because at my age I thought I have seen it all!! God Bless every little bee ! 🐝
Just put the 2nd biggest of the year in a box on Sunday. I'm guessing 10lbs 😲 now I'm wondering which one they came out of.
Punctuations swarmed off that title post.
True! :) The Google experts and Insiders at RUclips have instructed that "punctuation" in titles reduces visibility in search results... Odd, I know.
I will fix it though... :)
@@FrederickDunn It's ok Mr. Dunn. Whatever gets the word out, works for me!
wow this perfectly explains one of my hives. second box almost empty, sporadic capped brood, queen cell developing. I couldn't find the queen. I should buy a new queen immediately, right?
Orrrr.. if they have queen cells, you can allow them to mate with local drones and get some locally adapted bees out of it. :)
Thanks I get scared when the hive fills up with bees, I grab a spare box and add it. Then when it fills up I split them.
That's one control method :)
Rather than gathering all the swarm you possibly can into a net and putting them into your spare hive, have you ever just gathered a good scoop of bees into the hive and seen if they advertise its desirability to the swarm for you?
That only works if the queen is with them. I've tried to put scoops of bees in hive bodies many years ago and they never went for it. There is a definite hierarchy among the scouts, so if you don't scoop up the best "influencers" then it's an uphill climb. BUT, as I have every single box filled at this time, another swarm will bring more experiments and I'll try to share if that happens. Thanks Angela!
Fascinating. Thank you Fred. I guessed that if anyone would know the answer, or would be willing to do the experiment, it would be you. Enquiring minds want to know.
I dealt with a bald faced hornet nest yesterday. One got me in the ankle because I was not wearing my boots. I should have just left it for a couple of weeks cause bald faced hornets die out mid September and the Queen overwinters and they do not reuse thier nests.
Glad you got such a nice swarm. I say the next thing Fred should do is tie a queen box to himself and film a beard of bees on him. Lol
That's a hard "NO" on the bee beard Carlos, but thank you for thinking of me (';')... as for the bald faced hornets, I've received some scathing email messages from those who claim Bald Faced Hornets and Yellow Jackets don't attack - I guess you know better :) and yes, the queens go out and dig into decaying materials for wintering. I've found wintering queens in decaying logs when exploring for salamanders. I recently bagged a nest of them at 5 a.m. and brought them home for examination. I don't feel bad about that at all :)
Well Fred, did you at least start your beard on Labor Day?
Hello Carlos. Ouch!
@@danskisbees7348 Yeah it got me good. My whole foot is swelling some. Itches like crazy and blistering. They are very aggressive. I got lucky the nest did not have many in it.
I have 8 more weddings to photograph and then... the razor gets parked! ;)
looked like a queen at 37 seconds, center of swarm, always hard to tell on camera though
Good morning Wes, I can't tell on my phone, but you did have me looking like 7 times, lol. I see what's going on here. Lol.
Dan Ski's Bees 😂 ya I can’t tell but thought I might have saw a queen
15:55 Odd luck with supersedure
s or did you cull the old ones for some reason?
Great channel BTW
I never cull queen cells and don't remove Queen cups.
@@FrederickDunnI'm still learning the terminology so probably misspoke. Did you requeen them for some reason or are they all young queens because the old queens all left in swarms?
@@eloquenthillbilly No problem :) All of my colonies replaced their own Queens this year on their own. They were standard swarm-outs, not supersedures. My BeeWeaver colonies swarmed several times. My observation hive gets filled rapidly and as it's a confined space that cannot be expanded, it's basically a swarm-machine during summers of plenty. This year, we had the highest honey yields since I began keeping honeybees. So in spite of swarming, productivity was also high.
It's funny you posted this. I live just west of Chicago started my second year as a beekeeper and a hive that I made from a swarm at the end of June swarmed yesterday. Way too high in a tree for me to get. And what happens again this morning at the same time to the same live? You guessed they swarmed again. It kind of bothers me because my original Queen left yesterday morning what the first swarm. I can't collect them they're just too high for me to get I got to be 50 feet up in the tree. I waved and wished them good luck
Those after-swarms can be devastating and leave a very small resident colony in the end. I guess all you can do is provide excellent care for those left behind and hope the new Queen gets adequately mated in time.
@@FrederickDunn the crazy part about this story is the original hive had after swarms as well. The last week of June and the first week of July. The Hive that has just swarmed and swarmed again today is from that original hive. There is plenty of room I went through hit there are even some frames that aren't completely drawn out with comb. It has me perplexed
@@crzrck The next thing I'd do is a varroa count? Often a rise in varroa can induce sequential swarms.
@@FrederickDunn I have thought of that and I popped open a whole frame of drone prude out of curiosity and didn't find any. I didn't want to sacrifice any of the workers so I figured I might as well look at the Drone larvae. It didn't find any and I'm those grubs at all
@@crzrck Have you considered doing a sugar shake with your nurse bees? Then again, they may just have that swarming desire!
Thank you!
I just saw the queen!
Ha Mr Dunn thanks for showing this, for the most part the swarming season is over here in virginia the flow is over where I live and it is a death sentence to swarm. But I have watched videos where they say if they are honey bound the bee keeper gave them to much syrup and they backed filled the brood area and the queen has no place to lay they will swarm because the queen needs to be still laying brood they called them fat bees,for the winter to survive. Now yesterday I seen a video where the bee keeper gives his hives 4-5 gal of syrup the bees have 1 or 2 brood boxes he wants them to back fill the brood area the hole thing, I have read that is is not good for the bees to back fill every thing they need to be able to stick there little heads in the open comb to help stay warm and heat the cluster. I hope I am explaining this so u understand what I am trying to say and ask. This is what I am doing and what they looked like in the last inspection, in some Hives the brood is in both deeps with stores and pollen with lots of open space, In some hives the brood is in the top deep and the bottom box is pretty much empty every one has pollen and honey or 2-1 sugar stores they put every thing where they want it put,, Should I move all the brood down to the bottom boxes stores on top In the spring I have always did that but for the winter I have not it does not get real cold here , till say Dec. I am feeding 2-1 syrup now and still giving the bee pro patties to encourage brood rearing to build up the hives for the winter. . they love the bee pro they gather around like a bunch of little dogs in a circle and start eating as soon as I put it in there it is so beautiful to watch I wish I had a camera like you have if would be beautiful. I Please tell me what u know and what do u do for your winter prep thanks and have a wonderful day, God Bless you .
Hi Frances... there is a lot to address here, when the winter is headed our way, I don't rotate boxes and I will explain that more on Friday. The bees are sealing up the joints for heavy weather and the more we take them apart, the more stressed they are. If your bees have open framed below them and you're feeding, they will migrate down naturally as they fill the cells with winter resources. It is very important that they have brood rearing space as they do continue to produce a small cluster of brood through winter. I personally would not put on any protein patties going into winter as that encourages brood build up when the Queen should be backing down and new brood at the wrong time of year can cause them to use up their resources before winter has finished. I would not pot protein patties on until Feb or March when they begin to build for spring if at all. Thanks as always for watching and I hope I answer some of your concerns on Friday's FAQ video :)
@@FrederickDunn Thank you u are wonderful, I am looking forward to seeing the video have a great day
I'm looking forward to seeing this swarm housed to see how much they fill their box. I love your teaching videos.
We need the queen bee in bee swarm simulator and all the things that you said should be in bee swarm. This is a joke but I understand the video
Frederick Dunn
ouuuuu gooooooood and beatuful high quality
Excellent!
Thank you!
Late swarm, will not make it by itself.
Hey man hope you can answer for me. In my backyard I got a dead big tree, there’s a hole in it about four inches around 15 feet up. Out of nowhere one day I noticed probably a couple thousand. Just yesterday to October 6 this happened. Should I leave them be?
if they are honey bees and not in the way, I'd leave them to that tree.
Thanks! 💫💖🕯️
You are so welcome
Can you add a swarm to an existing hive to get the numbers up?
Great question, and I would not try that, the resident bees you're trying to add them to would most likely initially defend and kill them. The swarm would obscond (in most cases) and just depart an occupied hive.
I have a swarm in my yard small size what do I do
Contact a bee keeper.
💙
God works in mysterious ways
I'm not sure if I'm correct or not, but the bees on those branches, you can still capture and put them in another man made hive?
Yes, it's referred to as hiving a swarm. :)
@@FrederickDunn oooooh Thank you for the response, I really do appreciate it helps me learn things I still don't understand.
Hello James, I know you guys there are going to "try' to rationalize why those bees invaded the mandala at that particular time , with those particular people present, but it had nothing to do with you or them! Swarming is a natural happening in a bee colony as you will learn in the video attached. If the hive (colony) is overly congested, the workers trigger the colony to split in half to relieve the congestion. Furthermore, bees are very sensitive to the internal temperature and humidity , so when these conditions are not ideal the 'workers' will trigger swarming..This will not matter whether there is a bishop in the mandala or not. It was the nearest shelter from where they came. They inspect several places until they find a suitable one. A swarm like that one typically consists of an old queen or a new one, because any hive ( colony) can only have only one queen as ruler and mother! So when any of those mentioned condition occur, the hive splits right away and they head for the nearest shelter, regardless of who is there or what they are doing or intending to do. So, what happened had nothing to do with you or your visitors, but only the bees themselves. Now that you know, you may play the video to your audience bataberererangho nibasasama ni wolokoso otagasa. Thanks
Who's James, what's a mandala? Why would there be a Bishop? There is no ruler inside the hive, it's an insect democracy. The workers have the strongest influence.
Wish we could build cells & get rid of our “king”
Interesting.
Bee looking to hired👌🏾
Sometimes bees get tired of communism,
And go back to capitalism.
interesting
Thank you for this video you have nice voice i enjoy lising you
Thank you so much!