I suspect that my bees have swarmed and I have lost half the hive. A couple of weeks ago there was a lot of activity outside the hive. Now, there is activity, but just not as much as there was earlier.
That’s how the bee colonies multiply, while the queen keeps laying eggs and new workers and drones keep hatching out there is still just one colony. So every now and again, when the fancy takes them, the queen decides to swarm and off she goes out of the hive taking about half the colony with her. The other half stay behind and, this is the amazing thing, they realize that the queen has gone so they raise a new queen. Just by tending to one of the existing eggs a little differently, what would normally hatch to be a worker bee develops into a queen bee and the colony can continue. Quite amazing really – what was once a single colony becomes two.
So, by the reduced number of bees around my hive, I think that means that the bees have swarmed. While it is a good thing for the bees because they go forth and multiply, it is something that beekeepers do not like because honey production is slowed until the old colony’s numbers are built up again. I guess the professionals go to the extent of actually killing the queen before she can lead the swarm – they go into the hive, find the queen, pinch her head off (ouch) and then the remaining bees create a new queen and off they go again, but this time they have not lost half their members in a swarm.
I highly recommend bee-keeping, it’s a great little hobby, it doesn’t take much effort, and they are amazing creatures. It’s animal husbandry on a very small scale.
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