The Bee Lady

Hello, fellow gardeners! I thought this may interest you. About a week ago, my husband came running in the house yelling at me to go outside and look. Well, as soon as you stepped out the door, you could hear a steady buzzing sound and the air was absolutely full of honeybees. They were madly circling around a pecan in our alleyway. After about 15 minutes, they settled into this makeshift hive on a branch.

We called Joe, who had some recommendations on beekeepers in our area. We finally found one who was interested, and after setting up a very precarious ladder (!), he and his helpers removed the bees and took them home to their own hives. It is estimated that there were close to 30,000 bees in this particular swarm. Dimensions of the swarm were somewhere around18-20 inches in diameter, and it was approximately 20-24 feet off of the ground.

FYI: Bees swarm when the queen leaves the hive in search of a new 'home'. The worker bees follow her, protect her, and even carry honey with them to feed her. They often will rest on a branch, as seen here, before reaching their final destination. Unfortunately, sometimes they will nest in a house, so that is why I thought it important to find someone to remove (and take good care of!) this swarm. I didn't really want my house to turn into a giant bee hive. For those of you with cable/high-speed connection, be sure to see this video about a woman whose house is filled to the brim with millions, yes, millions of honeybees.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/05/01/anderson.bees.in.wall.wrdw?iref=videosearch

Also, it is worth mentioning that pollinators, namely honeybees, are responsible for 1/3 of our food supply! So, "bee" kind to the bees!!!





- Amanda Childress aka "The Bee Lady"