Swarm of honey bees in a tree in my yard! Picture.

[Flysure1]

I have never had this before, I was less than 2 feet from hitting them while mowing today, I called a local bee keeper and he was glad to get them, he came right over and brought a box and a bucket to put them in and take them to his home, he guessed 3-4 thousand. I googled bee swarms and learned a lot. He said they "probably" would not sting me as we were getting ready to cut the limb they were on, I noticed he was in full bee keeper garb with the netted hat and I was in shorts and sleeveless shirt!

 

[AzPete]

Not nice for sure. I had about 10,000 in a large swarm back in '75 in Az. It is interesting how the bee keepers handle them. I agree with the stinging thing..... They always say you are safe as they get fully dressed out.

Good thing you didn't hit them mowing. They would have been a bit upset.

 

[Midlife]

Rod:
Did you have to pay to remove them, or did the beekeeper pay you? Did you get some honey at the very least?

And BTW, how's your arm and hands doing?

 

[GrabberOrange69]

That's real interesting - I've never seen anything like it. So I guess, now that the Beekeeper has them, they have been domesticated...

 

[c5z]

When the honey bee is in swarm mode, they are docile as they have no brood(eggs,larvae) or hive to protect. A typical swarm
from a apiary costs about $80 today and contains one queen in a cage and about three pounds or 10000 of the worker bees. Here are a few pictures of me working a new hive several years ago.

 

[Flysure1]

This guy had a box and he showed me the new panels he had for these to make a home in, he said he gave them some sugar water and was hoping they would stay-

 

[AzPete]

The guy in Az. said he was going to "smoke them in" so they would jin a new swarm and he did not have to worry wbout the queen. Guess the smoke killed the queen sent....... Always liked to watch the bee workers.