DENVER — Swarm season has officially arrived in Colorado, as honeybees begin their annual process of finding new nest sites.
Gregg McMahan is a dispatcher for Colorado’s Swarm Hotline and said the mild spring has led to earlier-than-usual activity.
“We’re a full month ahead of time,” McMahan said. “Yesterday there were almost 20 swarms I was dispatched on.”
Despite honeybees being quite docile, the swarms can be frightening for people, which sometimes leads to people killing the bees instead of calling the free Swarm Hotline. Dispatchers will remove the bees and pair them with beekeepers across the state.
“We’re trying to rescue all these bees,” McMahan said. “Don’t kill them, don’t spray them. Let’s rescue them.”
The early swarm season likely means more honeybees survived the winter, McMahan said. Colorado’s bee population, including native bees, has declined in recent years, with one report estimating a decline of about 72% in the past 25 years.
Kathy Gill, vice president of the Colorado State Beekeepers Association, said it's too early in the year to know whether this could be a bounce-back year for Colorado bees.
“It does mean that more that survived the winter," she said. "But hey, this is Colorado. We may still have a major winter storm, so it just kind of depends on the weather."
To connect with the Swarm Hotline, call 844-779-2337.
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