So do not look for one bee, the queen bee. Typically, some swarm bees have already found her. To search for a lost queen, donвЂ™t do it alone вЂ“вЂ“ let the swarm help you.

Quickly, I scanned the ground, mostly bare, locating her in seconds. The queen might be on the ground, close by. Realizing that, instantly, I froze, not taking another step. Most likely, the swarm did not get the queen in the hive. I let their flight pattern guide my eyes (see Figure 2).ДЇrom the six entrance holes at the end of the bait hive, hundreds of bees boiled out, frantic to leave, like the hive would explode in seconds (see Figures 3 and 4). With only an iPhone, no bee smoker, veil, or the other usual gear, I walked ahead of the truck, into the swirl of bees. I stopped the truck well away from the apiary, not wanting to disturb the bee flight, which might interfere with subtle details of what was occurring. In a few minutes, I was out the door and gone in the bee truck.ДЄpproaching the apiary (see Figure 1) slowly in the bee truck, I could see a big swarm cloud flying around the bait hive, which was just beyond the row of hives. At least the swarm was not going the other way, flying off to the woods. Replaying the message, it seemed like the bees were taking too long to go in one of my swarm-catching (bait) hives. Hearing her calling me, and hearing something about a swarm, a sensitive word in the spring, I knew my workday was not over. As usual, she checked the answering machine while I scampered away. After a long day of teaching, Suzanne and I finally arrived home.

Swarm queen guide