Honey bees swarm at beekeeping meeting!

Bee swarm in mid air

 

Swarm landing on tree limb

 

Steve and Robyn Drajeske of Neosho with their hived swarm of bees.

The honey bees gave the Dodge-Jefferson Co. Beekeepers Association a lesson on swarming at their meeting on May 17 at the home of Steve and Robyn Drajeske of Neosho. As members conducted a hive inspection, one of the Drajeske’s bee hives began to swarm out of its existing hive to a nearby tree branch about 30 feet away. Club President Louis Antonioni commented that the swarm “looks like a tornado of bees.” Swarming is the process by which a new honey bee colony is formed when the outgoing queen bee leaves the colony with a large group of worker bees. Swarming is mainly a spring phenomenon and beekeepers often try to “catch a swarm” if they are lucky. The Drajeske’s were able to recover the swarm and re-hive it.  For more information on the Dodge Jefferson Co. Beekeepers, please visit at http://dodge-jeffersonbeekeepers.com.