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10. Water — All living creatures require water and this includes bees. Bees use water to hydrate themselves and bring water into the hive to evaporate it and cool the hive with a swamp cooler effect. A water source should be placed on the property a little distance from the hive so the bees can navigate to it. This can be something as simple as a bucket or wash tub with corks spread across the top to a small fountain to something more complex as a small pond with water plants floating in them. It is best to have something that the bees can land on otherwise the bees may drown. By not having water the bees will search elsewhere such as pet water bowls, sprinkler heads, and swimming pools. This creates a nuisance for your neighbors and will lead to complaints to the city code enforcement. Note: If you are going to have a water source that will not be changed out weekly Mosquito fish should be placed within the water source so you do not create a breeding ground for Mosquitoes. These fish can be obtained from Orange County Vector Control for free! 11. Swarming is a natural process which occurs and allows bees to propagate their species. Swarming occurs when a hive is either overcrowded or overheated (which can be from being overcrowded). The hive will create one or more new queens and just before the new queens are ready to hatch out of their cells'/ to 2/3 of the hive's worker bees will exit with the current queen. These bees numbering in size from a couple thousand to many thousands will swirl around in a large mass in the air till the queen, typically but not always, lands on a branch near the original hive. For those not familiar with bees this can be a frightening experience seeing thousands of bees in the air. However it should be noted that when bees are swarming they are at their most docile as there is no hive, brood or food to protect. Beekeepers will stand in the middle of these swarms with no protection just to see where they are going so they can get a bee box and catch the swarm and not get stung. The swarm will typically form a cone of bees on the limb. From this cone of bees scout bees are sent out to find a new home. In the wild this might be a hollow log. In the city it can be a wall, attic, meter box or somewhere else they are not desired. With proper hive management swarming can be eliminated or reduced to an absolute minimum. During the beekeepers weekly inspection space should be added for brood and honey when approximately 80% of the current box is full so the bees will have room to grow. If the hive is packed with bees or if the hive is bearding out (large cluster of bees on the front of the hive) the frames should be inspected for swarm cells (cell used to raise a queen when the hive wants to swarm) indicating that they are getting ready to swarm. If swarm cells are found the hive should be either split or the swarm cells cut off and additional space added along with some frame manipulation to prevent it from swarming. If swam cells are found and cut off the hive should be completely re -inspected every week to confirm that the swarming urge is no longer there. As queen bees age their queen pheromone (queen smell) weakens and they can start laying fewer eggs. This can create tendency to swarm. It is recommended that queens be changed every year to two years with a fresh new queen. This has the added benefit of keeping up brood production which means more bees and more honey. So a small investment in a new queen will pay off tenfold in the long run. Even with the best management though every beekeeper may lose a hive to a swarm on occasion. If you the beekeeper see the swarm leaving your hive or you get a call from your neighbor that they have a swarm in their tree be a good neighbor and try and capture the swarm. It is always a wise idea to keep an extra hive box around for just this purpose. If you do not know how to do this contact someone that does. Note to the public: Bees are attracted to the smell of other bees and swarms can come from a distance. Just because there is a swarm in your yard it does not mean that it comes from your neighbors hive. There are hundreds of wild hives throughout the city and it could be any one of them as well. Having experienced beekeepers in the city that are willing to collect these swarms is the best defense against the bees getting into somewhere they do not belong. Placing a swarm trap in an elevated position with a swarm lure to catch a swarm from your hive or from a wild hive in the neighborhood will be the neighborhoods best defense for not getting bees into somewhere they do not belong. 12. The number of hives — The number of hives you should keep on a property will depend greatly on the size of the property, the buffer space you have between you and your neighbor, the size of hives that you have and the types of bees that you keep. Beekeepers using proper management skills will split hives to prevent swarming and combine hives when they naturally shrink over the course of a year varying the number of hives they have in an apiary. Having a limit on the number of hives that you have will force poor beekeeping practices and increase the likelihood that a swarm will ensue. As long as your bees do not become a nuisance to others or infringe on your neighbors ability to use their property or the public at large the number will not be limited. Be a good neighbor and limit the number of hives