Any bee keepers?

[EMGX]

This swarm showed up in my back yard. I'm assuming just passing through but I'd like to start up a beehive. ACE hardware has one in stock but store is 50 miles away. Very docile bees, I could walk right up in a hovering swarm and none bothered me

 

[theemartymac]

They're probably all tuckered out after running away from the murder hornets...

(Just kidding, I don't know that much about bees, but cool shot. lol)

 

[EMGX]

That's a lot of bees.

 

[Brockrock]

In my younger days of frequent and often distance bike riding (maybe 12 - late teens), I never worried about wearing hi vis clothing, but since I have started wearing bright yellow shirts or outer jackets, I have found bees and other insects seem to be attracted to the color while they are out on patrol. I have been stung so many times by bees that get stuck in this clothing, and I can't be the only one.

 

[EMGX]

 

[EMGX]

In my younger days of frequent and often distance bike riding (maybe 12 - late teens), I never worried about wearing hi vis clothing, but since I have started wearing bright yellow shirts or outer jackets, I have found bees and other insects seem to be attracted to the color while they are out on patrol. I have been stung so many times by bees that get stuck in this clothing, and I can't be the only one.

I've read that bees and wasps are attracted to bright colors which is what I wear when biking. I've been stung by yellow jackets/wasps but not bees, and there are a always lot of bees around my yard. Mosquitoes are more bothersome. I spray the inside of my helmet and head covering lightly with dilute permethrin which repels insects and kills the ones it doesn't repel. It persists in cloth/clothing for several washes and prevents the bugs that get in my head covering balaclava from being bothersome, they always seem to hone in on my ears which is really annoying.

 

[tomjasz]

I dealt with swarms in Las Vegas. Things got really interesting when Africanized Bees took over and made beekeeping a dangerous occupation.

 

[tomjasz]

Very docile bees, I could walk right up in a hovering swarm and none bothered me

Swarms are typically calmer.

 

[EMGX]

Well, they're not docile anymore. The bee boxes were from bee keepers my neighbor called who stopped by last night and shook the bees out of the tree branch into a couple boxes, they really needed more than two boxes but were surprised by the size of the swarm. The swarm probably originated from their bees that my next door neighbor has in several hives in his yard, although once in my yard they were mine if I wanted them, probably worth a few hundred dollars. The swarm would have been too large for me to deal with so in the end I was glad they came, even though not invited by me.
The bee keepers did their best to collect the bees left on the ground by putting screened frames on end, the bees congregated on the screens but there are still hundreds, to thousands, of bees swarming around and they are not happy bees. I'm hoping they go back to their original hive in my neighbor's yard (if that is where they came from). If they don't clear out or calm down within a couple days I'll have to mist them with permethrin (I have exterminator 40% strength) and that would be a shame but right now they come after me and my dogs from a good 50 yards away and one of my dogs got stung several times.
The beekeepers gave me a quart of honey that they said was predominantly from last season's blackberry blossoms. It is the best honey I have ever had with a distinct fruity taste.

 

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

The swarm is still there because there's a Queen that they are protecting. If you calmly find the Queen and move her, then the swarm will follow. Get a smoker to help calm them down. If you are nervous around them, they can feel it by your electrical impulses firing all crazy around.

I used to have a 2200 tree peach orchard and dealt with bees quite a lot. They are amazing to learn about. Good luck! Please don't poison them.

 

[Mulezen]

Funny you ask…spoke to guy riding his bike down my dead end road recently with bee gear. He keeps bees off the farm road/rut where the road peters out. He also leads a weekly ride for some from the city. eBike friendly

 

[EMGX]

The swarm is still there because there's a Queen that they are protecting. If you calmly find the Queen and move her, then the swarm will follow. Get a smoker to help calm them down. If you are nervous around them, they can feel it by your electrical impulses firing all crazy around.

I used to have a 2200 tree peach orchard and dealt with bees quite a lot. They are amazing to learn about. Good luck! Please don't poison them.

That is pretty much opposite. When the swarm on the branch (as well as the hovering bees) had the queen the bees were very docile. I could put my hand within an inch of the buzzing mass on the tree limb without any response from the bees and the flying/hovering bees made no response to my presence. I could even walk up to the boxes this morning without a reaction from them. But when the boxes of bees were removed and the queen was taken from bees left behind (and she is definitely gone now) the remaining queenless stragglers (many hundreds) got agitated, as they are now. I'm not a bee expert by any means but that is also what I've read on more than one beekeeper site "The absence of a queen bee affects the behavior of worker bees, making them agitated or aggressive".
Different when the bees are in a hive and protecting a brood per the beekeepers.

I'll give them a couple days to calm down or relocate before taking drastic steps.


EDIT: All's well, bees dispersed, no poisons used.