Posted on 08/01/2012 2:01:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A swarm of relocating bees in southern Sweden chose to leave an overcrowded hive to squat on a bicycle parked on a central square in Kristianstad.
Passers-by witnessed how bees were swarming around a bicycle at Kristianstad square Södertorg, reported local paper Kristianstadbladet.
“Then the Queen arrived and they started to come in droves after that,” said Jan Ekdala, who became a witness to the event, to the paper.
Ekdala watched as the bees started swarming over the bike, literally covering parts of it.
“In only five minutes it was a gigantic bee-swarm,” Ekdala told the paper.
He told the paper that watching what was going on he became increasingly pleased that it wasn’t his bicycle that the bees had chosen.
“It would have been too large a number of stowaways to be able to use the bike,” he told the paper.
The phenomenon, when a bee Queen and a number of worker bees leave one hive to go looking for a new home, is called swarming.
The swarm at first only relocates to a nearby gathering place, such as a tree branch – or in this case a parked bicycle - sending out some 20-50 scout bees to find a suitable new location for the colony.
How do we know these were homeless?
They were probably trust fund ba-bees.
sometimes it just bee’s that way.
Pretty cool, actually. I’d actually feel honored if a swarm of bees were to choose my bicycle as a temporary stop while looking for a new home.
Nature in it’s infinite beauty shows clearly the hand of Divinity.
Notice how the wire net weave of the basket is very similar to the honeycomb pattern of the bee ?
Flamethrower magnet.
Here's what you need:
1. A large cardboard box with a tight-fitting lid.
2. Your smoker with plenty of burlap and/or straw.
3. A queen cage with a sugar plug and a wire.
4. Duct tape.
5. Your veil and gloves if you're a chicken.
6. A spare brood box with foundation and hopefully some drawn comb.
Put the large box under the bees.
Smoke the bees.
Poke through the swarm gently to find the queen.
Cage the queen.
Put the queen in the large box.
Scoop the bees into the box.
Let it sit a little while for strays to come to the queen.
Close the box.
Take the box to your beehive. Install the queen's box between two frames. Dump the bees in, and leave the large box out front.
Congratulations! You now have free bees!
Its neat to watch someone who knows what they are
doing capture a big swarm
My momma was mowing earlier in the summer and didn`t
notice a Rose of Sharon had a swarm and hit it
The Cub Cadet sat out in the front yard for a coupla
hrs covered in bees before they departed
Sweet accessory.
Very Beespoke and Haute Couture’.
Sweet accessory.
Very Beespoke and Haute Couture’.
I don’t think you need to cage the queen. I caught a swarm this spring and dumped them on a sheet in front of an empty brood box. After a few minutes they all walked up the sheet into the hive entrance. First swarm I ever caught and they’ve been doing Ok so far. It is a little late in the year for a swarm, must be a great year for the bees in Sweden!
The queen went to a bike? I didn’t know Barney Frank could ride.
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