Hello Friends,
Time for a bee update! The hive has been growing and the bees have been busy!
You may have noticed the bee population explosion that happened last month. The total population had dwindled so much over the winter and early spring, I confess I had been worried about the hive’s survival. But the queen made her appearance in April and started laying in earnest. By June we had a fairly full hive with active workers bringing in resources and some roly-poly drones just hanging out doing drone things–sleeping and eating, for the most part.
The mid June heatwave brought some impressive “bearding” displays at the hive entrance. Bees “beard” like that to help cool off the hive, understandable with temps in the 90s at that time.
The prior-mentioned population explosion stepped up in June and July and we were all surprised by just how many bees were actually in the hive, and how tightly packed they were. We had identified some queen cells and waited (im)patiently for a swarm to occur. Swarms are a way for bees to manage an expanding population that becomes too large for a hive. Workers draw out queen cells usually near the edge or bottom of frames, and new queens are reared in preparation for the OG queen to leave and take more than half the hive with her. This “swarm” will alight on some convenient spot while workers fly off in different directions to find a new home. Arguments are made, and the hive then flies off to its new home.
We had three swarms last year and managed to catch each one, making sure they were all given new homes in the hives of local beekeepers. This year, the bees had other ideas, and somehow between 9 am and 10:15 am on July 10th they swarmed without us even noticing. I’m not really sure how that is possible, swarming is kind of a big thing, but they were there when we opened, and gone when we checked a little over an hour later. Bon voyage, bees, and safe travels.
Please stop by and check out the new, roomy hive our bees now enjoy, and see if you can find the new queen cell.
Be well,
Matthew
Matthew Graff
Executive Director
Skidompha Public Library