Bees

The facts

That allowing any type of insect or rodent within your premises or home will obviously be a nuisance and in some cases serious illness, loss of business and in extreme circumstances, legal and civil prosecution. Most bees are fuzzy and carry an electrostatic charge, which aids in the adherence of pollen. Female bees periodically stop foraging and groom themselves to pack the pollen into the scopa, which is on the legs in most bees, and on the ventral abdomen on others, and modified into specialized pollen baskets on the legs of honey bees and their relatives. Many bees are opportunistic foragers, and will gather pollen from a variety of plants, while others are oligolectic, gathering pollen from only one or a few types of plant. A small number of plants produce nutritious floral oils rather than pollen, which are gathered and used by oligolectic bees. One small subgroup of stingless bees, called "vulture bees", is specialized to feed on carrion, and these are the only bees that do not use plant products as food. Pollen and nectar are usually combined together to form a "provision mass", which is often soupy, but can be firm. It is formed into various shapes (typically spheroid), and stored in a small chamber (a "cell"), with the egg deposited on the mass. The cell is typically sealed after the egg is laid, and the adult and larva never interact directly (a system called "mass provisioning").

Where do Bees live?

There are three castes of honey bees: queens, which produce eggs; drones or males, which mate with new queens and have no stinger; and workers, which are all non-reproducing females. The queen lays eggs singly in cells of the comb. Larvae hatch from eggs in three to four days. They are then fed by worker bees and develop through several stages in the cells. Cells are capped by worker bees when the larva pupates. Queens and drones are larger than workers and so require larger cells to develop. A colony may typically consist of tens of thousands of individuals. While some colonies live in hives provided by humans, so-called "wild" colonies (although all honey bees remain wild, even when cultivated and managed by humans) typically prefer a nest site that is clean, dry, protected from the weather, about 20 litres in volume with a 4 to 6 cm2 entrance about 3 m above the ground, and preferably facing south or south-east (in the northern hemisphere) or north or north-east (in the southern hemisphere).

Why keep Bees under control?

A swarm of bees sometimes frightens people, though the bees are usually not aggressive at this stage of their life cycle. This is principally due to the swarming bees' lack of a hive to defend and their interest in finding a new nesting location for their queen. This does not mean that bees from a swarm will not attack if they perceive a threat; however, most bees only attack in response to intrusions against their hive. Swarm clusters, hanging off of a tree branch, will move on and find a suitable nesting location in a day or two. Beekeepers are sometimes called to capture swarms that are cast by feral honey bees or from the hives of inattentive beekeepers.

Prevention & Control

There are various methods to capture a swarm. When the swarm first settles down and forms a cluster it is relatively easy to capture the swarm in a suitable box or nuc. There are also swarm traps with Nasonov pheromone lures that can be used to attract swarms. Encountering a bee swarm for the first time can be alarming. However, swarms are typically benign, the individual bees are filled with honey, the swarm has no hive to defend and is focused on their task of finding a new location. Bee swarms can almost always be collected alive and relocated by a competent beekeeper. Some people seem to think that a swarm should be exterminated for safety reasons.

Treatment

Contact Paramite Pest Solutions if you suspect you may have a problem and we can advise you on the best course of action. A visit by our pest control officer can be arranged. He will carry out a survey and will suggest action needed. Paramite Pest Solutions will take all possible precautions. Revisits will be made until the problem is cleared.