It was just last weekend when I got a call at home from Bret Taylor, Educational Specialist here at the Science Learning Center, that there was a great ball-o-bees that had taken up residence in a tree at one corner of the building. I knew that Monday morning there would be over 150 kindergarten and second grade students walking under and around all those little stingers. Even as we spoke there was a raging storm pending and I wrongly assumed that the swarm would disperse. When it became obvious that the bees liked that tree I consulted the miracle-working group known as the Collin County Hobby Bee Keepers Association.

     The bee swarm is basically a search party organized by the queen to find a new home. This behavioral phenomenon occurs in the spring, rarely in the early fall, and almost never in the late summer. When the newly formed bees leave their cellular pupa compartments as adults, there is a population explosion. The queen takes all those that will follow and begins the search for more space. The swarm consists of a mated queen bee along with hundreds or thousands of accompanying worker bees. These traveling multitudes will attach to almost anything, e.g., trees, buildings, a slow Basset hound, mailboxes, etc.

     A swarm can be described as a compact ball of bees, as small as a grapefruit, or as large as a football. No nest materials will be seen or found. Swarms generally pose little or no threat to humans, and can, in most cases, be approached safely. When swarms come too close to areas of human activity they may need to be controlled. This requires the services of an experienced beekeeper.