Bees and beekeepingPresent & Past: More Usurpation:Colony Take-over by Summer Swarms

摘要

Colony usurpation is when a summer swarm takes over an established colony by quickly invading it in a matter of minutes. While some of the hive bees and the usurpation bees fight, the crucial action is with the queens. The usurpation queen becomes balled near the hive entrance, where she just entered with the invading swarm. Deep in the brood nest, a ball of worker bees also forms around the mother queen. (The origin of the bees in these balls is not well known.)