- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey Other folks just don't want to be
around them. Sure, they appreciate the pollination services and
they worry about the declining bee population, but they don't
want these tiny agricultural workers near them. We received an
inquiry last week from an Amador County resident who wanted a
"bee catcher" to come and remove honey bees from his rosemary
bushes. Was this a swarm? No. No swarm. Just a lot of bees
visiting his yard. Honey bees, however, are social insects.
Every morning (unless it's too cold, or rainy or windy) foragers
leave home to collect food (nectar and pollen) to bring back to
their colony. Honey bees survive as a unit, a sort of super unit
or superorganism, not as individuals. Each has a task to
perform. So you can't just catch foragers (which already have a
home) and give them to another beekeeper. Guard bees will stop
them at the entrance. As Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of
the UC Davis Department of Entomology says: "At this time of
year, foraging bees are l