Honeybee Apis mellifera
Of course everybody knows the Honey Bee, that little creature that brings us mother nature's sweet surprise... With Bumble Bees and social wasps only the queen hibernates, the rest of the colony dies in fall. Bees however stay together as a colony in winter. And that's why they produce honey: to get themselves through winter. Honeybees are among the best studied insects in the world. You can find many, many books about them and there is a lot of information on the internet too. So we limit the information about the Honeybee on this page.
Sometimes a colony is split up. A new queen has been born and she leaves the hive or nest, taking a group of bees with her. Such a new colony is called a swarm. A swarm will find a place to sit. While sitting in a lump of bees, there some bees called scouts which will fly about to find a good place for the swarm to establish a new colony. A swarm may adopt any place to sit on: usually branches of trees or shrubs, but fences and even car mirrors will also do. A swarm is not aggressive at all, for there is no hive to defend, but still you better keep your distant. Especially in southern parts of the USA you do have to be much more careful, as the swarm may be an Afrivan Honey Bee swarm and this species is much more aggressive. The best thing to do is to call a local bee keeper. They are often very interested in the swarm and will come and collect it, usually in the evening. You may also call a bee keepers association or the police. In the bottom picture a swarm on a post. A bee keeper took it away in the evening hours and called next morning to express his gratitude as he believed this to be a healthy promising swarm.
