Category FAQs Search : Agriculture
Question: Where to get bees for beekeeping?
Answer: Swarms: Swarming is the natural method honeybee colonies reproduce as a whole. The original colony replaces the old queen, who leaves the hive with roughly half the worker bees and as much honey as they can carry. Swarm clusters land on a structure near their original hive location, while scout bees leave the cluster in search of a new hive location. It is in this stage that swarms can be captured and used to populate an empty hive. Swarms are ready to start building comb in their new home immediately.
Bait and Trap: When scout bees find a suitable hive location, they return to the cluster and direct the swarm to the new hive location with the waggle dance. Once the swarm reaches their destination, the first worker bees on the premises gather at the entrance and fan their nasonov glands, releasing scout pheromone to direct the rest of the bees into the new hive. This pheromone resembles the scent of lemongrass oil, and beekeepers can use small amounts of the oil in their hives or in swarm traps to lure in a swarm.
(Source: BeeBuilt, 07 Oct 2021)
Source Link: https://beebuilt.com/pages/where-to-get-bees