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See a swarm of bees? Don’t panic; call an expert to help

By ANN HINCH
Assistant Editor

NEW CASTLE, Ind. — There’s a swarm of bees camped in an old tree limb not far outside the front door. The faint buzzing sounds ominous, even angry, and it’s easy to imagine the little stinging pilots are ready to attack anytime. What to do?

The last thing most people want to hear is “do nothing,” since it goes against self-preservation. But that may be the wisest course – at least until an expert can be reached to come look at the swarm and determine if it’s full of valuable honeybees, or something more dangerous.

“People see a swarm and they get real fearful of them,” explained Ray Hail, who has been keeping honeybees at his home north of New Castle for upwards of a dozen years, and said he’s never been stung when going to people’s homes to investigate swarms.

Basic business

Hail, who a gave a presentation to members of the Purdue University Henry County extension during its recent annual business meeting, said he frequently is called by area residents to come take away bee swarms from their properties. Though he is only a hobby beekeeper with five hives – and at their peak, when his house was surrounded by alfalfa, he only collected about 100 pounds of honey a year – he knows there’s good business for the industrious beekeeper.

And not just in sweets. “Some of them make more money with their pollination than with their honey, believe it or not,” he said, referencing beekeepers who rent out colonies to commercial flowering plant growers.

Hail’s hobby is keeping with a family tradition – but not just his. When his wife’s uncle decided to get out of the business, he sold Hail all his equipment, suits, extracting equipment and the like. He explained it’s not terribly expensive to get started, and a hobby keeper can do so with new equipment for about $130.

Each of his hives has about 50,000 bees at their annual peak, and considerably fewer as cold weather rolls in. Part of this is because once the (male) drones have done their job of fertilizing the queen’s eggs, the (female) workers kick them out, since they don’t otherwise contribute to the hive’s resources.

Once out in the cold – literally – the drones die off, as do some worker bees in the colony if they run out of honey. To keep warm, he said bees will shiver, producing great energy; he’s measured a hive in winter as hot as 92 degrees Fahrenheit.

During mating season, a queen lays up to 2,000 eggs per day. One problem a beekeeper faces is varroa mites, which attach to bees, get inside their larva and hatch, feeding off the young.
There are pesticides for mites, but Hail prefers to monitor and eliminate by using special screens to filter them out of the larva, through the bottom of the hive.

Hail said beekeeping isn’t just a rural hobby – there are urbanites who keep hives on the rooftops of apartment buildings, for example. His brother, in Alabama, lives in a residential area and keeps three hives.

Valuable stock

Hail said a swarm is comprised of a queen taking some of a colony’s workers – usually several thousand – to establish another hive elsewhere. Honeybees are generally “an orange-tan-brown color,” by his description, and if they approach a small opening such as a tree knot or a hole in a building, they generally do so in a straight line.

If they are yellow or white and/or approach openings in a zigzag fashion, they’re likely hornets or sweat bees, and not beekeeping stock. To be certain, Hail advised contacting a beekeeper to come and inspect the swarm before taking any action.

He told the story of one call he’d answered about a swarm that had landed on the ground instead of using a tree or structure. When he arrived, he noticed the swarm was definitely honeybees – which were definitely dead, thanks to someone pouring gasoline over them.

“If you don’t disturb the bees, they prefer not to bother you,” he said, advising that instead of slapping at them, one should gently brush them away. “(Honeybees are) so important, they shouldn’t be destroyed if you can help it.”

He stressed repeatedly that even a swarm of thousands is not inherently dangerous. When he related a tale about one honeybee swarm around a mailbox flying after the letter carrier after she delivered the mail – perhaps because they saw her car as a potential hive – somebody in the audience half-jokingly piped up: “Let’s go back to the part where you said they won’t hurt you!”
Though amused, Hail admitted he has been stung while working with his bees, but usually in predictable situations of doing his job, which he already knows will upset the bees.

Even if they do buzz a person’s head, he explained it’s usually a scare tactic, since for a honeybee, to sting almost always means to die. According to the British Beekeepers Assoc. website, the sting rips a bee’s venom sacs off, killing it. (The site notes only the female workers and queen can sting, and the queen’s stinger is smooth, allowing her to kill rival queens and live.)

“They’re really just looking for a home,” Hail said.

He gets enjoyment from working with honeybees and watching their behavior, including the varied “dances” for mating and to alert other worker bees to types and locations of nectar.

“There’s so much information. I don’t think anyone knows everything about them,” he mused, adding, “I’m always glad to help someone get started (in beekeeping).”

If you live in or around Henry County, Ind., and have a bee swarm or want to learn more about beekeeping, call Hail at 765-836-0208. For other parts of the state, the Indiana Beekeepers Assoc. offers resources online, including a “swarm call list” of other helpful beekeepers, at http://indianabeekeeper.goshen.edu/Beekeepers.html

11/25/2009