It’s that time of year again. Scouts are on the loose. No, not the girl scouts selling cookies at your local supermarket. I’m talking about scout bees who may be sniffing around your home right now. So you may be asking yourself “What the heck are scout bees?”
Scout bees are worker bees whose primary task is to find and locate a new place for the colony to build a hive. You see, when a hive begins to become overcrowded, scout bees look for a place where a portion of the colony can go to set up a new home. This frees up space in the existing hive and ensures survival of the bee species.
Scientists have done extensive studies and documented how scout bees search for a new location. Here is a simplified explanation of what they discovered. Basically scientists discovered that once a scout has found a suitable location, they will go back to the hive and perform a “dance” which is communicated to the rest of the hive. This dance gives information on the location that the scout has found.
While performing the dance, other scouts will watch and follow the dance in order to check out the location for themselves. Using the information communicated in the dance, they will visit the location. If they agree that the location is a good one, they too will go back to the hive and perform the same dance until eventually the entire colony is on board and everyone is performing the same dance. For a much more detailed and scientific explanation – Scouting Behavior of Honey Bee Swarms.
So what does it look like when bees are scouting? How do you tell if you have a swarm or just scouts? If the bees are out in the open, it’s pretty easy to tell scouts from a swarm. A swarm is a cluster or clump of hundreds of bees that all cluster around a queen. A swarm will often look life a football or pineapple in it’s resting state. Scout bees on the other hand, travel in smaller groups. For example, if scouts are checking out a tree as a possible location, you may only see a few bees sniffing around.
What about if the bees are near an attic ventilation hole or a crack or hole in the stucco wall of your house? How do you know if you have a swarm or hive inside, or if it’s just scout bees? This is much more difficult to distinguish. When bees enter a structure you usually can’t see how many bees are inside. In fact, often times you may see only a few entering and exiting the wall or roof. In general, scouts will appear to be scanning a more broad area of a structure. Typically they won’t be concentrated in one spot. A swarm on the other hand will typically enter and exit one specific area that has been chosen as their new home. If this is your situation see our recent post entitled, “What to do when a bee swarm lands in your yard”. In reality, it’s always best to seek the advise of an experienced bee removal professional who is able to tell the difference.
Check out this great video of an experienced beekeeper Geof Whitford who captured footage of scout bees checking out his hive boxes.
