A new study found that a warm Bay Area winter may have pushed honey bees to swarm weeks earlier than usual.
Steve Demkowski is a honeybee addict. But in January, when a swarm buzzed into his San José yard, the longtime beekeeper was stunned. Swarming had started nearly a month earlier than he expected.
“I wasn’t ready for it,” the 79-year-old said. “I have never gotten swarms in January before.”
Swarms happen when a bee colony splits, and half of it leaves to find a new home. It’s a natural process that usually ramps up in spring, when flowers are in bloom en masse…