A bee visiting a Santa Claus Dahlia

Some more bee trivia for everyone. As urban beekeepers we read more about bees and honey than normal. :) I thought I would get the word out (since many will be gathering for the holidays) to call your local bee guild if you spot a bee swarm. Bees are not aggressive when they swarm since they eat as much honey as they can before they swarm and because there is no honey, hive or babies to protect. It's helpful if the guild is called as soon as the swarm is spotted. Don't wait and hope they will go away. The best time to remove a swarm is at sunset, when all the bees are back around the queen. At least for the Santa Clara Valley bee guild, when you call someone on the list, they will ask you a few questions to make sure it's bees and in a location they can get to. Once the bees are boxed up they go directly to waiting hive or are added to a smaller hive the beekeeper has. Swarms are offered to guild members first (who usually have hive ready) then to other bee keepers.