Currently in Chicago — June 5, 2024: Booms and bees

The weather, currently.

Thunderstorms herald the spring-to-summer season shift in Chicagoland; beekeepers know it’s also swarming season. Bees quickly increase population coming out of winter, so they’re ready for the heaviest flow of nectar. Too crowded? The old queen gathers half of her daughters and flies off. Warmer weather has been observed to trigger earlier swarms. I caught three last week… now I’m swimming in bees! One anecdotal way to recover a swarming colony? Bang metal pots together -- it's supposed to make the bees think a thunderstorm is coming. I’m hoping the real thunderstorms over the next day or so will convince my bees to stay put!

— Katje Sabin

What you can do, currently.

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