SOME BUZZ ON BEES

What sounds like a roaring train and can send shivers down your spine? A swarm of bees!
A swarm is loud, impressive and a bit frightening if you don't know that swarming bees are incredibly docile and practically never sting. Swarming is the natural way for bees to expand and grow their numbers. When a hive is strong and healthy and the accommodation starts to feel a bit tight, the queen will ensure that the hive is full of honey, brood, eggs and newly developing queen cells. Then she, and about 20,000 of her closest attendants gorge on honey, exit the hive en masse and settle in a clump near by. There they stay until scout bees find a suitable location for them to set up their new house. This is incredibly unselfish. She does the work of building up a safe and secure hive, then leaves it behind to face the risk of starting over.
Commercial beekeepers do not like their hives to swarm as it slows down honey production in the old hive and leads to the loss of thousands of bees- unless of course, the beekeeper can capture the swarm and settle it in a new hive of their choosing.
On inspection of our hive a few weeks ago we did not find any eggs- often a sign that the queen has died. Instead, we found nectar stored in the brood space (the part of the hive where the queen usually lays her eggs). We had planned to wait a few days and check the hive again but before we had a chance, they swarmed! As we have learned since, nectar was flowing, but not abundantly, so the bees did not prepare the comb provided for honey storage but instead stashed it in the brood space. When the queen wanted to lay eggs and found her brood space full she decided the hive was too crowded and instigated the swarm. The bees settled in a very high branch of a nearby tree (pictured above). We tried to capture the swarm, intending to start a second hive, but when we dislodged it the queen flew back to the original hive, all her attendants in tow. We quickly added another honey super and some new frames in the brood space and so far she seems content with her expanded quarters.
Life is never dull at Foxwood Resort and we have great honey!