The Northwest New Jersey Branch of the New Jersey Beekeepers Association started an initiative to track swarm activity for New Jersey in the spring of 2013.
The premise is to build an understanding of when swarming season runs in New Jersey.
It was started in 2013 and ran as a trial. It is fully operational in 2014 and beyond and will begin to track year over year activities. In addition it will provide insights to NJ beekeepers and serve as a repository for swarm activity across the state.
Why collect the data?
One of the spring beekeeping activities includes preparing for swarm prevention. This survey will capture a representative sample of real world data about when swarms start up in different regions of the state. The hope is to document the trends for use and planning in future beekeeping seasons.
Participating in the Survey
Any time you encounter a swarm you can report it here via our Survey Site. We Prefer this Method!
Alternate Method:
You can send an e-mail to njswarm@live.com with the following information:
Date Captured (or Observed): mm/dd/yyyy
Swarm Location: – Address + Town
Size of Swarm: Small | Medium | Large
Height of Swarm: Less than 6′(Ground) | Between 6′ and 10′ (Ladder) | Higher than 10′ (Tree)
Here are a few pointers about the data.
Address:
The address is your discretion. You can send a full address (Street Number, Name, Town) or you can send us a partial address (Street Name, Town) or you can just send us the town. We’d prefer at minimum the Street Name and Town but we know that some may wish to use discretion about the information they disclose.
Size of Swarm Definitions:
Small = Grapefruit sized or smaller
Medium = From Grapefruit sized to Basketball sized
Larger = Bigger then a Basketball.
What will happen with the data?
We will collect the data and make it available on the NW website. We’ll provide tables of the data for beekeepers to reference and we will plot the data on a map of NJ to demonstrate where and what kind of swarm activity is taking place.
Questions about conducting this survey can be sent to nwnjba@live.com.