Bees are quite territorial especially if they have larva and honey to protect. Guard bees will face down anything that comes within 25 feet of the hive.
Very different behavior from swarms. Swarms look scary but they actually, the bees are full of honey and since they don't have a home,larva, or honey to protect they just want to be left alone. They will only attack if they feel threatened but more likely if they are disturbed they will move off and find another spot nearby. The queen usually does not travel very far from the main hive they have swarmed from waiting for the scouts to return with prospects for a new home. The queen has small wings so she is not a great flier. Some beekeepers clip the queen's wings to try to prevent her from leaving. Splitting the hive before it swarms can sometimes help give them more room. Sometimes no matter what you do they will swarm because that is how nature intended it to be.
Bees prefer a variety of pollen and nectar sources. Bekeepers who rent out hives to farms for pollination rarely get the majority of their hives back alive. Thebees cannot survive on a single food source for very long.
I'm in an urban area and in my two years gardening here, I've seen very few honeybees, but lots of bumblebees and hoverflies. The bumblebees actually disappeared on me this year. I saw a few in June when my lilac tree bloomed, but they didn't return. I was worried. I was pollinating everything by hand, until the first week of July when I was working the morning shift and I wasn't around. I lost 4 zucchini (on 2 plants) because they weren't pollinated. Now, finally, the bumblebees are back. I usually see at least 3 of them at any given time in the morning, hanging around the yellow pumpkin, cuke and zuke flowers.
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jal_ut
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7447
- Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
- Location: Northern Utah Zone 5
with the mites and some bee diseases, wild honey bees are pretty much non-existent in these parts. They can't survive without the help of the beekeeper. Honey bees are not native to this land, but are an import. Bee keepers who are on top of things have very little swarming. The hives are checked every ten days and swarm cells cut, and room added as needed. They go for honey not increase or swarms.