Swarm of honey bees surprises South Carolina family
An Upstate man and his family got quite the yard decoration after a swarm of hundreds of bees took up temporary residence in their yard over the weekend.
Steve Godwin sent WYFF News 4 photos of a swarm of bees he said were "just hanging out on a cedar tree" at his Greenville home off East North Street and Hudson Road.
Godwin said his wife and kids were out yesterday and saw a lot of insects flying around.
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"We thought maybe it was gnats, or something, until we saw the swarm had gathered in a clump in the tree," Godwin said.
Nobody was stung and even strong winds and thunderstorms overnight did not disturb the swarm that was still hanging in the tree Monday afternoon.
Godwin shared video of them on Monday.
Godwin said his friend raises honey bees, and told him that's the kind of bees he and his family saw. The friend told him the bees should not be aggressive, since they are not defending a hive, and he expected them to "be on their way" in the next day, or so.
Here's what experts at Clemson Extension say about swarming honey bees:
"A European honey bee colony will swarm normally once a year whereas an Africanized colony will swarm several times annually. Swarms occur in spring during strong nectar flows when the colony population outgrows its living quarters. The old queen and about half the bees will emerge from the parent colony to find a new home. The parent colony has made preparations to replace the old queen prior to swarm emergence. When the swarm emerges, the bees will cluster on a nearby tree limb or other object and remain there from an hour to sometimes twenty-four hours. Scout bees are dispatched to search for a new home for the swarm while the queen and remaining bees await their return. The swarm will fly en masse to the new home described by the most convincing scout bee. The new home may consist of a hollow in a tree, a vacant beehive, an abandoned water heater, a cavity in a wall of a structure, or any other void that meets the specifications of the scout bees."
Upstate beekeeper Keith Ausburn told WYFF News 4 that anyone who finds a swarm like the one Godwin found in his year should contact the local beekeepers association.
"I’m a member of the Anderson County Beekeepers Association and we have a website with a list of "swarm catchers" for the county," Raines said. Here is that link.
He said swarm catchers are skilled at removing swarms so they don't set up a hive inside a home or business.
Here's a link to all the beekeeper associations in South Carolina.