We had a very great and cool swarm on our little cherry tree the other day. In hindsight I should’ve contacted someone to take the swarm because I k...
Knowledgebase
Is this the start of a hive? #752139
Asked May 25, 2021, 7:17 PM EDT
We had a very great and cool swarm on our little cherry tree the other day. In hindsight I should’ve contacted someone to take the swarm because I know how important they are. This was on Sunday and then it rained hard and got chilly so the swarm stayed overnight. I thought they all moved off yesterday but this morning I noticed some are still there and there’s a white substance on the branches. I LOVE bees but this would be a bad location for a hive. Will you tell me if they are building a hive?
Thank you,
Ellen
Thank you for the prompt response. I shouldn't have included the photo of the nice swarm. I just was too excited and had to share. The swarm is gone but now it appears that some are building a hive and it's right next to our little above ground pool. It's also right where the kids and dogs play and we'll be too active and disturb the bees (and with my sketchy frisbee throwing for the dog, I'm likely to hit it!!). I would love to have it around because that's the gardeners dream, right, but I think it's not safe where it is.
In the photos of the few bees and the white substance on the tree branch a photo of bees building a hive? If so, should I just call/contact a beekeeper to come and try to relocate it?
It's a little hard for me to tell from the photo, but it does look like the bees began drawing comb on the tree before they left the location.
If all that is left of the swarm is some wax and a few dozen bees, then the swarm moved on and there are just a few stragglers behind. The remaining bees won't have a large enough workforce to establish a hive, and without a queen they won't be able to survive. Worker bees can technically lay unfertilized eggs (which develop into drones, or males) if they are without a queen and brood for a period of time, but I would expect to the stragglers to dissipate and disappear from the area.
