Oh my gosh! Did you have to pay extra for the bees? Wonder what the roots look like? I guess you wouldn’t be checking them though….

Ha! This is a hosta and container I've had for a while. The bees just showed up today.

Could be they’re just using your hosta as a B&B while enroute to their new home and queen? 😉 Pretty cool they showed up though & even better that you noticed them before disturbing them.

Interesting. I've never seen that before!

Funny title. :-) That's good you didn't reach down to pick up the pot without noticing them! I've seen really big swarms, and like Kathy mentioned, they were taking a break before continuing on their travels. Let us know what happens with your Fire Island.

A beekeeper came by this afternoon to collect the bees. He put the container with the hosta on top of his open bee box, and it was fascinating to see the bees all crawl straight down the container into the box, drawn by the existing beeswax.

It turns out bees won't sting while they are swarming (unless you squish them).

The beekeeper said this was a baby swarm (quite small). He didn't see the queen with this group, so it's possible we'll see more.

I have a friend that lives on a river in illinois a few miles from me. She called me and asked us to come and see the swarm on her property. A huge tree growing on the river bank had thousands and thousands of bees in the branches, could hardly see the leaves. The bees stayed for two days, never left the tree till they departed……a spectacular sight.

Sherry

Wow! So interesting Ben! Thanks for sharing….. I did not know bees would not sting while in a swarm. Mother Nature’s always a learning source!

debra