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dmb90260 · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 1309 Location: So California

Bee swarms are natures way of propagating the hive. When the hive gets too crowded the bees will swarm. They decide to do this about a month before it actually happens. They make the decision and the select a larvae to be a new queen and feed it royal jelly. It takes about 16 days for a queen larvae to develop into a bee. After a while she will be ready to make a mating flight. In the mean time the local Queen has not been eating so she can slim down and fly. During normal times she is too big to fly.
The new Queen may make several mating flights with the drones along with her. The drones have one job in life, mating with the Queen. Until the new Queen is mated the other bees ignore her. Once she is mated things change. She may mate with her own drone crew or a fly=by drone. She does not care and that drone dies.
Once she is mated and the old Queen is in flying condition, the hive will swarm. 30-80% of the bees will take off with the Old Queen looking for a new place for a hive..swarm. Those left behind take care of the new Queen and she starts laying eggs which will produce new workers in 24 days and drones in 22 days Those new bees go through a cycle of tasks in the hive before they go gathering nectar and pollen, about 12 more days. The swarm should have left enough honey and pollen to feed the hive until the new bees start to work.

Quite unexpectedly I witnessed this the other day. Very neat to see but not if they are your bees.

You can see Pictures and the whole story here:
http://buzzinthedale.blogspot.com/
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Joanne · Posted: Saturday 6-12-2010 6:37 pm Post subject: Re: Bee Swarm!!

Always fun to hear about the bees. Hopefully when I have a place of my own, I'll have room to have my own hive. I've always been fascinated with them. Thumbs Up

Joanne
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David Hughes · Joined: 20 Jun 2010 Posts: 108 Location: Middlefield, Ohio

Good job Denis. I had bees, they didn't make it through this past winter. I was going to get three more hives this spring but I'm doctoring for a bad back right. The med's and exercize are helping, hope to start backing off on the med's next week. I all goes well I'm going to get three hives next spring. To late this year iffy if they would make it.

dmb90260 · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 1309 Location: So California

Joanne · Posted: Saturday 7-3-2010 5:44 am Post subject:

dmb90260 · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 1309 Location: So California

I do not have any specific knowledge but Dee Lusby, the prime mover of the Organic Beekeepers, is located in Southern AZ. This is a very adamant no-treatments group but it has great information and advice. I am sure the no-treatment thing will not be an issue for you.
You might find some help from our Backwards Beekeepers. A number of us are in both groups.
One of my favorite sources for info is Michael Bush I believe he does bees in Montana but his site is great and I understand he does answer personal e-mails when he can. His approach is very practical, over time he has moved from treatments to no-treatments. Treatments are drugs or anything including essential oils and things bees do not naturally use on their own.

After watching a terrible episode of Monster Quest about Killer Bees it does look like there are bees out in the desert. In this episode the idiot was driving around night time Las Vegas nannering on about the danger of killer bees up in the roof tops. I enjoy the show for Sasquatch storie but this one was just stupid.

Heat is not a massive problem for bees, they keep the hive temp at 92 in the winter time. Your first issue will be selecting the season when you can start a hive and have them prosper with enough bloom going on.

The first thing would be to have the hive equipment ready and then try some swarm traps. That way you will start with localized bees that know how to thrive in your area.

to answer your question, I am sure the bees can live there. Laughing

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Dennis
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dmb90260 · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 1309 Location: So California

The payoff, one frame of full perfect capped honey harvested tday. It is late in the season for LA ao we pulled only two frames. It is filtering in the garage right now. Two frames will not give a lot of honey but come next Spring we will be over flowing. Each medium hive body had 10 frames,about 6# of honeyand wax in each.
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just remember to bring along your Dutch Ovens!!

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cliffmeister2000 · Posted: Sunday 7-4-2010 2:02 pm Post subject:

I love fresh honey. Actually, I don't care if it's fresh or not, I like raw honey! Out of somebody's back yard! Just like that piece of honeycomb you've got there, Dennis! Thumbs Up

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Joanne · Posted: Sunday 7-4-2010 5:54 pm Post subject:

Congratulations on your first honey harvest! Three cheers for your industrious little ladies!

Joanne
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David Hughes · Joined: 20 Jun 2010 Posts: 108 Location: Middlefield, Ohio

Great looking honey there Dennis. If all goes well I will be back into bee keeping next year. Wink

dmb90260 · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 1309 Location: So California

cliffmeister2000 · Posted: Tuesday 7-6-2010 3:55 am Post subject: