A Bee Swarm in Ripton!

At first, I was just going to add these pictures to The Photo Booth page.  Then when I was reading a little bit why honey bees swarm, I thought it was so amazing!

by C.A.

by C.A.

This is something that mostly happens in the spring time.  The cause can be anything in the hive, from disease and lack of food to over population. The swarm is formed when a queen bee leaves the nest, taking with her the majority  of the worker bees.

The swarm will land for a few minutes up to a few hours, swarming around the queen bee. Meanwhile, scouts are sent out looking for a new potential home.

For someone like me that is allergic to bees, the good news is that it's not much of a threat!  They gorge on honey before leaving their hive, which makes it difficulty for the bee to sting.

Know anything else interesting about this phenomena?