Honey Bees Swarm

Occasionally in the spring or early summer you may see a big ball of insects in a tree or shrub. Do not be alarmed, it is most likely a swarm of bees. I found this swarm at Keebler Park in Dadeville last week. A honey bee colony may divide itself by swarming. This is the natural way honey bees increase their colony numbers. About half the worker bees and their old queen will leave their nest to begin a new colony. A swarm will cluster temporarily on a tree branch or other object for a few hours or for several days and will then enter the wall of a building, a hollow tree, or some other cavity to establish a new nest. Swarms are not usually a problem unless disturbed. It is often best to leave a swarm alone and let it depart on its own. If it is in a place where the bees present a danger to humans or animals, call our office, police department, or fire department for names of local beekeepers who may want more bees and be willing to remove the swarm for you. If no one will agree to remove it, the best alternative is to call a commercial pest control operator.

Honey bees should not be killed except when absolutely necessary because they provide honey and wax, but more importantly, the honey bee pollinates many crops that we depend on for food. The three major groups of crops that require or benefit from insect pollination are fruits, vegetables, and certain seed crops. About one-third of our total diet comes directly or indirectly from insect pollinated plants. Of the insects that pollinate crops for humans, the honey bee is the most important.

Using pesticides can sometimes be harmful to honey bees but there are precautions that will help decrease their effect. Homeowners can decrease bee kills by spraying in the late afternoon when bees are not working the blooms, by applying pesticide only when needed, and use the recommended pesticide at the lowest effective rate.

Because the honey bee is similar in appearance to some wasps, it is often blamed for stings by social wasps such as yellow jackets, paper wasps, and hornets. The following description should help you correctly identify the honey bee. The honey bee is about 2⁄3 inch long, with yellow and black or brown bands across the abdomen. The body is covered with hairs. One difference is that wasps can sting repeatedly, while the honey bee stings only once and leaves its stinger at the site of the sting. The honey bee is not aggressive and stings only for self-protection. The honey bee is the only stinging insect that can establish a permanent nest in a house or hollow tree. Honey bee colonies are large, numbering from 15,000 to 60,000 bees.

In the past few years, calls to our office related to poor production of some garden plants have increased. Symptoms are blooms falling off , crop not maturing or oddly shaped fruits and vegetables. Squash is one that has been affected with gardeners saying their plant just blooms and blooms but there is never any squash to harvest. 

For more information, contact the Tallapoosa County Extension Office at 256-825-1050 or visit us online at www.aces.edu.