Posts Tagged: bee swarm

The Bees-Ness of the Bees

The bee swarm touched down April 1, settling near the wind chimes on her patio roof. "I saw the swarm when I looked out the window," said Vacaville resident Lynn Starner.  She watched dozens of bees buzzing toward the cluster. Flowering plum branches sheltered and shadowed the...

Around 6 p.m., April 1, the bee swarm at the Starner home looked like this. (Photo by the Craig and Shelly Hunt family)

Around 6 p.m., April 1, the bee swarm at the Starner home looked like this. (Photo by the Craig and Shelly Hunt family)

Beekeeper Craig Hunt (on ladder) and his daughter, Emma, 8, work to retrieve the bee swarm. Emma learned beekeeping from her father, who taught 4-H beekeeping prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Shelly Hunt Photo)

Beekeeper Craig Hunt (on ladder) and his daughter, Emma, 8, work to retrieve the bee swarm. Emma learned beekeeping from her father, who taught 4-H beekeeping prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Shelly Hunt Photo)

Close-up of Craig Hunt smoking the bees. (Photo by Shelly Hunt)

Close-up of Craig Hunt smoking the bees. (Photo by Shelly Hunt)

Beekeeper Emma Hunt, 8, tends to the bees. (Photo by Shelly Hunt)

Beekeeper Emma Hunt, 8, tends to the bees. (Photo by Shelly Hunt)

Bees in a box! The Vacaville patio swarm yielded two boxes. (Craig and Shelly Hunt Photo)

Bees in a box! The Vacaville patio swarm yielded two boxes. (Craig and Shelly Hunt Photo)

It Happened on Friday the 13th

It happened on Friday the 13th. It was the first swarm of the season at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis. The bees swirled, darkening the sky, and then swarmed from one of bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey's hives around 2...

Honey bee swarm on the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Facility grounds on Friday the 13th. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bee swarm on the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Facility grounds on Friday the 13th. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey catches the swarm. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey catches the swarm. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bees enter a strategically placed hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bees enter a strategically placed hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

All About Bee Swarms

The peak bee season is winding down--along with the number of bee swarms."There aren't that many bees swarming this time of the year," said Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty. When bees swarm, they have to consider available food, he said,...

Ready to Swarm

THESE BEES at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis, are ready to swarm. A few minutes later, they took off. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Swarm

BEE SWARM covers limbs at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

On the Trunk

THE TRUNK of a tree is covered with bees that have just swarmed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee Swarm at Briggs

Eagle-eyed Carol Nickles saw it first. The graduate student coordinator for the UC Davis Department of Entomology spotted the bee swarm from a third-floor window of Briggs Hall. There it was, swaying on a tree branch, about 25 feet above the ground. A bee swarm, shaped like a bowling...

Bee Swarm

BEE SWARM on a limb near Briggs Hall, home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. This telephoto was taken from the third floor of Briggs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee Tree

BEE TREE at Briggs. To the left of the lettering, "Swarm," is the pencil-shaped bee swarm. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Perfect Planning

Perfect planning.  Except it wasn’t planned.  On the last day of a two-day advanced workshop  on "The Technique of Instrumental Insemination,” taught by bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey at the...

Filming the swarm

VETERAN VENTURA beekeeper Bill Weinerth films the bee swarm Thursday, April 23 at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. He was at the UC Davis facility for an advanced bee insemination course taught by bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Swarming in a Tree

BEES SWARM into a tree at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis, as veteran beekeeper Bill Weinerth of Ventura video-tapes the action. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of bee swarm

CLOSE-UP of bee swarm in a tree at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Smoking the Bees

BEE BREEDER-GENETICIST Susan Cobey calms the swarm by smoking it as beekeeper Bill Weinerth films the activity. Cobey shook the bees loose from the limb and moved them into a new hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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