For Release May 14, 2006

Insect Swarm Season

AGRI-VIEWS
by Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent

We have three types of insects that exist in large colonies with a very specific social structure: honeybees, termites, and ants. These species all have a queen as the heart of the colony. All of the "worker" insects are sexually undeveloped females that have special roles. Some care for the queen, some care for the young developing larvae, others guard the colony and most of the workers spend their time out gathering food. When the colony senses that it is getting too crowded, especially in the spring of the year, the nursery will produce new queens, so that new colonies can be started.

In the case of termites and ants, multiple winged queens and males are produced all at once. They fly off, mate, and try to find someplace to start a new colony before their wings fall off or they get eaten by predators. We've already had a couple of swarm events this year and will continue to have them on warm sunny days, especially after rain showers. If the female successfully mates and finds a new colony site, she will start the new colony all by herself.

It is easy to tell ants and termites apart. Ants are related to bees and wasps. They have a thin wasp like waist, elbowed antenna and two pairs of wings that are different sizes. Termites have a thick waist, two pairs of wings the same size and their antenna looks like a little string of beads. Finding termites swarming outside your house isn't necessarily a problem as termites are very common. But finding swarming termites in your home means it's time to call a couple of firms for an inspection and bid.

Honeybee colonies are a bit different. When they produce a new queen, the first one to emerge usually goes around and kills all the other developing queens that haven't emerged. Then, as soon as the weather is right, the new queen heads off with part of the existing workers and a few males (drones) to start a new colony. The queen will mate, sometimes with multiple males shortly after the swarm leaves the old colony. And yes, the males do die after mating!

The entire swarm, with the queen in the middle, goes flying off in search of a new home. The swarm will fly anywhere from a few hundred feet to over a mile from the original colony and then land on a tree, shrub, or sometimes just on the ground. It will literally be a large writhing mass of honeybees. This is just a temporary location for the new colony. The last thing they want to do is have a hive out in the open. They want to get into a hollow tree or the wall of a building or anywhere that they have protection from the weather and predators.

So while the swarm is hanging onto this tree, there are scouts going out looking for new locations. When they find a possible site, they come back to the swarm and do a dance that tells other scouts where to look. This is a classic case of democracy in action. When a majority of the scouts agree on a location, then the whole swarm takes off and moves to their new permanent home. If a beekeeper can get to this swarm soon enough, it's a great way to start a new hive!

It can be rather disconcerting to be present when a swarm comes in to a tree or departs from a tree. But the bees are really focused on finding a new home at this time and as long as you stay calm, they will too! Don't go flailing your arms at them or start spraying them with water, insecticide or anything as this will only agitate them. Just leave them alone and they will usually be gone within a few hours or a couple days at most!

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