I am assuming that those are honeybees? If so, then that is not a hive of bees, it is a swarm of bees. They are looking for a place to build their hive.
When they left our garden the hive was there but empty. (lol) They build it, they eat the honey and then leave the place. There are people here who shoo away the bees and collect honey.
Our wild bees here are different. They have their hives in hollow trees and they will stay there for years. I don't know exactly how it happens but apparently another queen bee is produced and she and thousands of other bees will leave the hive they were in and swarm. They will all land someplace and make a big ball of bees just like shown in your pic. They will stay there a day or two while looking for a permanent place for them to begin a hive. Then they will all fly off at the same time to begin their new home
May be they do that here too but this is what we see in our garden. We just pulled down that empty hive.
Do you have a picture of your honeybees. I wonder if they look the same as ours? I will try to get a picture of ours today.
That explains it. Here we have only one type of honey bee, the European
There was a time when honey was easily availabale. Local farmers would have certain type of trees and the bees would extract honey only from those trees such as areca. Now we have to depend on the bee industry and there is no guarantee that it is pure. I have honey everyday.
Here in Texas honey is not so much a commercial enterprise although it is certainly here and it is big money. We have many many individuals who raise bees as a hobby and for the added income. Here locally the beekeepers have hives that produce a honey that is almost black. It is used as a deterrent to pollen allergies.
