Got a swarm? Call a beekeeper

It's understandable that people might first react to a seething, humming ball of swarming bees with alarm, even terror.

This time of the year, honeybees swarm by the tens of thousands. They pour from their hives in a dark, noisy cloud and land in a giant cluster around their queen.

But instead of killing the roaming insects, experts urge them to call a beekeeper who can lure the queen and her subjects into a box or other receptacle, creating a new colony.

Even pest companies have begun referring callers to local beekeepers, said Glenn Murphy, a Sebastopol beekeeper.

"People have a fear factor of what bees can do to them," said Santa Rosa arborist and beekeeper Emery Dann, president of the Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association. "They're obviously afraid of getting stung."

But swarming bees are engorged with honey to build the new hive, so they are generally non-aggressive and unlikely to sting unless provoked, experts say.

Swarms occur when a particular colony outgrows its hive, forcing the queen to find a new home. She takes about half the worker bees with her, leaving the rest behind with a new queen.

Once they have left the mother colony, they gather in a staging area such as a tree while scouts go off in search of an appropriate nesting cavity.

April, May and June tend to be high season, due to the wealth of flowering plants and nectar, which fuel population growth and crowding inside the colony.

"It's getting pretty busy now," said Cynthia Grimm who, with her husband, keeps several hives atop a hill overlooking Rohnert Park.

Beekeepers see that as evidence of abundance and good health in a species whose survival is in doubt.

Honeybees, which are not native to North America, have long been challenged by pathogens, parasites and mites. But a new, mysterious threat known as Colony Collapse Disorder arose about five years ago that has caused massive hive losses across the country.

The syndrome involves the sudden die-off of once-thriving colonies, leaving behind only the queen and a few strays. There are typically no corpses inside or around the hive.

The cause remains unknown, although it is often attributed to the combined effects of pesticide ingestion, parasitic mites, environmental toxins, chemical treatments, weak genetic stock and other stressors.

Beekeepers have some self-interest in recovering the bees. They use the new colonies to increase their honey production and add genetic diversity to their hives.

Local beekeepers are gratified by a growing appreciation for honeybees and the importance of protecting them.

Bees are responsible for pollinating a third of human food crops, including many fruits, nuts, vegetables, plants from which oils are extracted and alfalfa, which is used in dairy production.

"To me it's really heartening to see the public come so far so quick," said seed farmer John Fendley, who owns an heirloom seed company in the hills outside Petaluma and keeps bees for pollination. "I just don't think they understand the depth of the problem."

Large commercial hives, which are trucked around the west each year to pollinate commercial orchards and fields, are considered especially vulnerable, experts said.

Many home beekeepers and hobbyists lose hives each winter to various causes, including some to what they're convinced is Colony Collapse Disorder.

"We've seen a 70- to 80-percent loss this year, which is significant from last year," Fendley said. "Without catching swarms, I don't know exactly how sustainable beekeeping would be."

Sebastopol beekeeper Doug Vincent, owner of the beekind honey store and a leader in the beekeeping community, attributes his own losses this winter to weak colonies and Darwinism.

"I just consider it a cleaning out of the weak bees," he said.

Additional information and a list of dozens of beekeepers willing to remove swarms is available at www.sonomabees.org/swarm/index.html.