Re other species in and among honeybees:
    I have heard that wood roaches (Parcoblatta sp) are sometimes found in
beehives, and I, too, would be interested to find out more about not only
cockroaches and bees but other insects and bees.
Betty Faber
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Liberty Science Center
251 Phillip Street
Jersey City, NJ  07305
 
 
A bear raided my one hive at Ellijay, GA last week.  Ellijay is about 80
mi N of Atlanta, GA in SE USA.  The hive was a modified Tanzanian top bar
hive, so there were no frames smashed.  The bear ate all of the honey and
brood, leaving only about a gallon of wax scraps.  A neighbor called to
tell me were the bees had clustered.
 
I went up, probably 3 days after the bear made the raid, and hived the
bear-generated swarm which I subsequently merged with another colony.
The bees had clustered on a small pine tree which made it easy to get to
them.   They had already started to build comb and deposit honey.  It was
cool, and the bees were a bit fussy, but everything went well.
 
What if didn't expect was this:  As the bees were crawling into the five-
frame nuc box I was using as the temporary hive, I noticed two hornets
that appeared to have been in the cluster.  These were what we commonly
call the "baldface hornet"...larger than a honeybee, black and white in
color pattern.
 
Have others of you out there in BEE-L land ever encountered other species
clustered with swarms??  It's the first time I've seen this.
 
I enjoy reading all of the commentaries on BEE-L.  I've gathered a lot of
useful information from you all.  Many thanks!
 
Cordially yours,
 
Jim
 
 
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|  James D.Satterfield   |  [log in to unmask]     or    |
|  P.O. Box 2243         |  [log in to unmask]                        |
|  Decatur, GA 30031 USA |  Telephone 404 378-8917  |
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