way to combat this panic is to learn more about these insects and hopefully come to manage feelings of stress when encountering them. We often meet people who have attended our afternoon taster sessions because they’re not sure how they will react when surrounded by thousands of bees. Maybe they have always liked the idea of keeping bees but before they commit to the expense of buying the equipment and taking on the care of living creatures, they want to experience being near a hive. In turn, we don’t want our bees to be disturbed by scared students, so we take good care to explain what is going to take place and what to expect. The students get a similar briefing…! It’s much easier to be brave when wearing protective clothing and often people will say “Oh, it wasn’t as bad as I thought, it was so fascinating I forgot to be scared”, a win-win by our reckoning.
If you’re not knowingly bothered by bees, you may be asking “What’s there to panic about?”. The answer is “Nothing, really” except now is the time when you may see a swarm of bees for the first time and be aware that your heart has started to race…There really is no reason to worry; a dark cloud of buzzing insects may be alarming but they have no interest in you or doing you harm, they have bigger fish to fry. Swarming is a sign of a healthy bee colony reproducing itself. One queen and around 40% of the bees leave the original colony, which raises a new queen and continues to grow. The swarm cluster is on its way to its new home, identified some time beforehand by scout bees/insect estate agents. So coming after you is definitely not on their to-do list!
If you do see a swarm cluster gathered then please get in touch with a friendly beekeeper as they may want to try and capture the bees. If you are a beekeeper then hopefully you’ll be ready for the call, or may even be aware that your own bees have swarmed and you need to collect them. If you are prepared for such an eventuality, and have your ‘swarm box’ ready, then again, there is no need to panic. Preparation is everything! During the first hive inspections of the year, typically after the Spring equinox on 21 March, you will have been on the look-out for some of the signs that your bees are thinking about swarming (running out of space, drone brood, queen cups) and can take the appropriate actions.
faces, dark orange-ended abdomens and yellow legs. They are much smaller than the European hornets which look like massive wasps, and as they are an invasive species are a real threat to local insect life. Plastic bottle liquid traps are now strongly discouraged as they trap too many other insects along with Asian hornets, so traps using cones and mesh walls are now the ideal ones to use.
Please contact us to find out more about beekeeping, swarm management, and Asian hornet controls….and maybe deal with any concerns you have about our buzzy friends.
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