March 4, 2008: Is it a bee swarm?.. or a colony?

I recently fielded a call from a homeowner who noticed a bee swarm on the soffit of her house. She first noticed the swarm last Saturday, March 1, 2008.

Here you can see a picture(click to enlarge) of the swarm. I took this picture the following Monday . I always advise customers to observe swarm activity from a safe distance, and to not approach swarms. Swarms are usually docile, but if comb building is occuring, the swarm can become defensive.

If possible, I will attempt to remove the swarm and install the bees into a hive box.(More on that later )Because much of Florida's feral (wild) be population contains African ( Killer Bee ) genetics, It's extremely important to practice proper methods to prevent the spread of African bees. It's impossible for anyone, entomologist, beekeeper or homeowner, to visually determine if a bee swarm is African, Africanized of European.

The homeowner observed bees moving into small openings in her soffit. I was concerned that the bees started to build comb and possibly had entered the soffit. It became apparent after starting the removal that both conditions were true.

Comb was found on the exterior of the soffit AND on the interior void of the soffit. A sizeable portion of the swarm had moved into the soffit. In situations like this, removal of all comb and bees is necessary. A residual pesticide application is applied to control subsequent bee swarms. Once bees start building comb in a location, it becomes extremely attractive to other swarms. It's not uncommon to get another swarm within a week's time.