Community Corner

'Bee'ware: It's Bee Swarm Season in Half Moon Bay

Local beekeepers make house calls on the Coast from March through June during swarm season, saving the bees one yard at a time. Here's who to call.

 

It’s that time of year when bees crowd their hives because of an increase in nectar and pollen produced by winter rains and warm springtime weather. It’s also when the main food source for Coastside bees is blooming: eucalyptus blossoms, which will continue to bloom through early summer, according to Montara beekeeper Cat Fraley.

This means swarms, usually anywhere from 10 to 15 thousand bees buzzing in just one swarm alone. Bees swarm because their old hive becomes too crowded. As a result of the crowding, the group produces another queen, which means that one of the queens must take off to find a new home elsewhere with her portion of the colony.

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Coming across a bee swarm in your yard can be scary for some, but Fraley urges Coastside residents to consider a swarm as a thrilling opportunity to help the bees, not to freak out and destroy them.

In fact, when bees are swarming, she explains, they have gorged themselves on honey and are focused on finding a safe, warm place to wait while their scouts locate a new residence; they are rather lethargic and not interested in stinging anyone unless you agitate the swarm cluster. As long as the honeybees are given five to six feet of space around the swarm cluster, they pose no threat to sting children, humans or animals nearby.

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The swarm will usually fly off within 24 hours, so it is urgent to contact a beekeeper immediately to have someone come and remove them safely, she said. Fraley advises not contacting an insect exterminator but rather a local beekeeper who will come to collect them and give them a good home on the Coast.

“The local honeybees from swarms are acclimated to the cool Coast weather and usually survive better than packages of bees purchased from the apiaries in the hotter climates of Sacramento and the central valley," said Fraley. "That is why every swarm here on the Coast is precious to maintain, since the farmers on the coast rely on feral colonies of honeybees and native bees to do most of their pollination.”

So precious because almost every gardener Fraley has spoken with over the years will comment that they do not see as many bumble and honeybees in their gardens compared to 10 years ago. 

“The current state of bees on the Coast has not improved since we began seeing the decline in their numbers starting in 2005, when Colony Collapse Disorder was first recognized and named by commercial beekeepers," said Fraley. "Local and hobby beekeepers still continue to experience the 30-70 percent losses of hives every year, and most of the hobbyist beekeepers (with less than 20 hives) usually try to replace their losses with swarms.”

Just as mammals and birds raise new broods to replace the normal attrition of their groups, beehives generate new swarms of bees, which will create new hives, thus perpetuating their species. Unfortunately, many do not survive because of loss of habitat (not enough hollow trees) or by taking up residence in places where they will be destroyed (walls or roofs of human dwellings), explains Fraley. 

“Populations of other native bees and pollinators that typically go unnoticed have likewise declined, mostly from loss of habitat and use of pesticides in gardens," she said. "The native bees are actually more efficient pollinators than honeybees, and the loss of their numbers is just as catastrophic for commercial pollination as well as for local ecological health of every natural habitat in California.”

Most of the local beekeepers will collect the swarm free of charge, but expect to keep the bees as payment. 

“Some beekeepers even give you a jar of honey as a thank you gift for calling them,” said Fraley.

If a beekeeper says he wants to charge you for collecting a swarm that is not hard to reach, Fraley suggests calling someone on the list below or the local fire or police department for the name of a beekeeper who will do this service for free.

“The situation for the disappearance of the bees is still as bad as ever, and bees are an essential component to the overall health of the ecosystem on the coast and in our gardens," said Fraley. "Welcome the bees as a sign that your garden is a healthy habitat for all the animals around us, and feel lucky to see a swarm — it is a real 'wow' of a natural phenomenon that many people never see in their lifetimes.”

Spot a swarm? Here's who to call:

Please call any of the folks on the list below who will service your area using the following guidelines: 

• Start by calling the beekeepers at the top of the list and leave a message with your phone number and address when you call if they do not answer. 

• Continue to call other beekeepers on the list and allot the removal of the swarm to the first person you speak to in person who promises to come and let the other folks know that it is handled if they call later. 

• Correct etiquette for contacting a beekeeper is not have an open roll call and mobilize everyone you call to come pick up the swarm; these are all busy folks who will drop what they are doing if they can so be considerate by not mobilizing everyone on the list. 

1) Pacifica to Pescadero (available during the days the most) — Cat Fraley, mobile: 650-451-8825; home: 650-728-5478.

2) Pacifica to Daly City — Stefan Schulz, mobile: 650-291-80732.

3) Montara to Half Moon Bay, also removal of bee hives from inside walls and bumble bee nests (charge for last two services) — Farris Hix, Jr., mobile: 650-740-7345.

4) Pacifica to El Granada — Julian Schaffer, mobile: 650-678-1758.

5) Half Moon Bay and sometimes El Granada — Gary Butler, mobile: 650-619-4336.

Events

• On Saturday, April 27, at 7:30 in the evening the Friends of San Pedro Valley Park will host Dr. Gordon Frankie, specialist in native bees, as guest speaker. He will be speaking especially on his latest research, but also on his general knowledge of these diversified indigenous little Hymenoptera.

• On Saturday, May 4, Cat Fraley is giving a talk at the Presbyterian Church in Daly City about bee-friendly garden practices, including adding lovely, decorative plants for the garden and avoiding the use of common pesticides with neonicotinoids that are playing a big role in the nationwide death of bees. 

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