Help! There's A Huge Mass Of Bees In My Yard!

This is called a swarm, and the bees are not dangerous and are rarely defensive at this time because they have no home to defend. When a hive swarms, the queen bee and roughly half of the worker bees are moving to a new location to begin another beehive. They pile up and send out scout bees to find the ideal new home (a hollow tree for example). When the scouts determine the new home (they actually check out each other’s choices and make a communal decision) the entire swarm takes off in a “galaxy of bees” and flies to their new place. The scary-looking swarm will usually disappear in a day. If bees have swarmed in an area of your home where children or pets can knock or disturb the swarm in any way, please find a local beekeeper to remove them, rather than an exterminator! (Note: If you are in an area that has Africanized honeybees, then they could be dangerous.)