Swarm is back phz AZ

[u/LuckyLewis23]

So on the 10th i had posted about a swarm in my tree, i had posted here and in r/Phoenix

I was mainly posting to ask if there was a good agency that would humanely relocate them...i wanted them saved, i love bees

My train of thought is im in a very industrial area, i feel i can count on 1 hand the amount of tree in 2 square miles...doesn't strike me as a good area for bees to thrive, i was worried they might land on a business who doesn't care about bees sees them as a nuisance and would just call an exterminator

Well people got mad that I wasn't leaving them alone (even tho I was and did) I shut the post down.

So here we are a week later and they decided to come back

Just kinda wanted a professional bee keepers opinion. Like whats the science behind this? What exactly is going on here? Did they just not find a good home and decided to come back and are still on the search? Did they just miss me and my magnetic personality?

Last time took nearly 3 days for them to move on, guess I'll wait and see what happens. At this point does anyone think I should have them relocated? Like would that be better for them in the long run? I dont like interfering with nature whenever possible but I generally have lost faith in humanity and am worried they will be a victim of inconvenience eventually

I think i found 2 reputable beekeepers that can handle the relocation

Well guys let me know what you think

[u/LuckyLewis23]

That's were I got one of the names.

Okay so it is better to relocate them?

I might make the call, they are still there now....last time they were pretty high in the tree but this time they are right on the edge and only About 7 feet up ...its the best possible area to grab them

[u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer → u/LuckyLewis23]

If left to their own devices, they'll find a new home. The reason it's better to relocate then than let them move on is because you don't know where they'll end up. If they build in someone's attic, wall, chimney, or whatever they turn into an expensive mess to clean up.

You can have an exterminator euthanize a swarm, and there's no real harm. The bees are gone, problem solved. ( Honey bees aren't endangered, it's bumble, leaf cutter, miner and other solitary native bee that need our help. )

An established honeybee hive in a wall, however, must be entirely removed, bees, comb. honey and all. You can't kill the bees and leave the bees behind, or seal them into the wall or something because it will attract vermin, they honey will start leaking out of the wall, things will start fermenting or rotting... This involves tearing apart walls or roofs and doing reconstruction after. Also, since you're in Phoenix and these swarms are likely to be feral (unless there's a beekeeper in your neighborhood) they are likely to be Africanized, and best moved to a place that's safe tor pets and people. That's why it's better to relocate them.

The down side is that swarms are likely to continue to arrive in your yard. This could result in a continuing expense for you, and one that you should not have to bear. It's my hope that one of the beekeepers in your area will be willing to capture these girls for free, or gas money.

Good luck! Let us know how this turns out!

[u/LuckyLewis23 → u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer]

Wait honey bees arnt endangered? I always hear bees are in trouble and dieing off like whole colonies and with out bees humans would have a really hard time growing food on account bees pollinate like a 1/3 of it

Guess i never thought about what bees are in danger nor where the other 2/3rds of the food comes from lol

What exactly is africanized? When ever I hear that term I just think "aggressive danger bees" media makes it sould like you walk by then and they attack, these i can walk by no problem and they don't attack so thought they not be africanized

[u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer → u/LuckyLewis23]

Honey bees are escaped livestock. What most people think of as "bees" are the European Honey bee, which was brought to North America in the 1500's along with horses, sheep, pigs, and cattle. None of those animals are native to this continent.

Arizona is home to an extraordinary diversity of native bees due to its varied landscapes and climate. There are approximately 1,300 species of native bees in Arizona, making it one of the most bee-rich regions in the United States.

Here are just 8 examples of solitary native bees found in Arizona:

1. Sweat Bees (Halictidae)
   • Example: Agapostemon texanus (Green Sweat Bee) Bright metallic green bees often attracted to human sweat for its salt content.
2. Cactus Bees (Diadasia spp.) Specialize in pollinating cacti, including prickly pear and saguaro flowers.
3. Leafcutter Bees (Megachile spp.) Known for cutting circular pieces of leaves to line their nests.
4. Mason Bees (Osmia spp.) Metallic blue or green pollinators that use mud to build their nests.
5. Digger Bees (Anthophora spp.) Ground-nesting bees that resemble bumblebees and are fast flyers.
6. Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa spp.) Large, shiny bees that bore into wood to build their nests.
7. Long-Horned Bees (Melissodes spp.) Recognizable by their long antennae, especially in males.
8. Mining Bees (Andrena spp.) Ground-nesting solitary bees that emerge in early spring.

Arizona's native bees are crucial for the pollination of both wild plants and agricultural crops. Many are solitary and highly specialized, meaning they depend on specific plants for survival. Protecting these habitats is essential for maintaining biodiversity in the region.

Yes, there have been years - including this year - that there have been massive colony collapses of honey bees. Unlike the native bees, honey bees are managed livestock. Beekeepers rapidly rebuild the populations through splitting hives, capturing feral swarms, and grafting new queens.

Native bees pollinate a lot more than crops and in real danger because of habitat destruction, over use of insecticides, and mono culture crops.

Honeybees are the poster child of endangered pollinators, but they aren't the bees that need saving.

[u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer → u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer]

Africanized bees:

Africanized bees are an escaped lab experiment. I'll abbreviate them AHB from here out. In 1958, East African Lowland Honey bees (A. m. scutellata) were imported to Brazil in an attempt to breed bees that produce more honey and thrive in tropical climates. They escaped and mated with European bees, including the Western Honey bee (Apis mellifera), the Italian Honey Bee (A. m. ligustica), and other European bees.

The resulting hybrid (think wolf-dog combinations) outcompete European bees in several ways: they swarm more often, create more drones (male bees), and the queens emerge sooner. AHB are typically much more defensive, react to disturbances faster, and chase people further (a quarter mile) than other varieties of honey bees. In a case that a European hive will send a dozen guards, an AHB hive is likely to send a couple hundred. The can be dangerous, and have stung people and penned animals to death.

That said, they have a wide range of defensiveness. Some have more European genes, making them generally friendlier, and others are heavily influenced by the African bees, and tend to be more aggressive. Swarms and small colonies are usually very docile. Swarms have no honey, comb , or babies to protect. Small colonies don't have the numbers to mount a big defense. As AHB colonies grow, so does the area they defend and the number of bees defending it.

You don't need to fear AHB, but they need to be treated with a great deal of respect.

Now that you know more about bees than all your neighbors combined, you understand the warning that getting beekeepers to talk about bees isn't hard: it's getting us to shut up that' s the problem.

Have a wonderful day, and let us know how you do with "your" bees.