I think bees are disappearing on their own, so you might not have to worry about it. There's been a marked decline in bee populations over the last few years. Nobody knows exactly why.

Colony collapse disorder

While I'm deathly afraid of bees I've helped relocate several honeybee hives in my past. One when I was living in WI, and the other here in WA state. The experience in WI went basically like this -

I was working in a weld shop back then, and late afternoon a small swarm of bees came down in the parking area. One of our guys grew up on a farm and knew how to deal with this.

He immediately got a bucket of water, a tin top to a garbage can, and a stick. He went out to where the bees were swarming and started beating on the trash can lid with the stick and then stuck his hand in the bucket of water and threw it over the swarm.

This all looked like bizarre behaviour to me, but he explained that the noise confused them and the water caused them to think that there was a rain shower coming. Also that they would then congregate on the nearest appropriate landing spot to let the "rain" pass.

Sure enough, they took immediate refuge in a grove of shrubs and landed there while still buzzing around. My co-worker said they'd stay there as long as they thought there was still a danger of rain. So he continued to sprinkle water on them (from about 20' away) and beat his trash can lid.

He called a local beekeeper who came right out. They put a bunch of hive boxes nearby and said that they'd wait until the next morning to come back and collect them. It turned out that the hive they came from had hatched a new queen and she took away a bunch of workers that were loyal to her and were looking for a new place for her hive.

Next morning when it was still somewhat chilly, the beekepers came back. The swarm had taken up residence in the hive boxes, and they gently pulled out each screen until they identified the queen. That was the box they sealed up to prevent her from escaping and thus her swarm. They would be loyal to her they explained.

The beekeepers did use a bit of smoke to calm the bees, and no one got stung. In fact they didn't even have on any helmets or netting. They were old hands at this and I found it strangely fascinating. Even when when they showed me the queen as I couldn't identify her. And all the while I'm deathly afraid of bees!

So they took the hive off to a new location to be happy honey producers. Good for them and what a lesson for me!

So fast forward to a similar situation I was involved with here in WA state at my brewery location.

Much the same as before, only this time I was the one to make the noise and throw the water. Called the local beekeeper and he came right out and removed the swarm to a happier location.

In this case they had taken up overnight residence in the outer and inner wall of the adjacent building to the brewery, and the beekeeper had to remove some of the flashing.

The guy worked up there for a couple hrs on an extension ladder with no protection removing boards! And that swarm had already built a bunch of combs in the meantime! He never even got stung once!

Bottom line, honey bees are your friends. Just treat them with respect!

Whew......





Cheers,

RR

Brewdude,

That's an awesome story!

Like I said. Nature's little robots. Very predictable behavior. You're safe so long as you know what you're doing.

Bees are awesome. Hornets are jerks. Wasps generally just snub you because they're better than you.

Hate flying stinging animals.

Insects are animals. Just hate being stung, not hate of the bug itself.

My family used to have an apiary, my suggestion is to gently puff smoke in their direction and try to keep sudden or aggressive movements to a minimum. Addionally, stay away from dark colored clothing.

Ah I see where you were going with it now.

"When in doubt, blame it on climate change."

Bees, like most things, will adapt or die. My money's on adapt. I mean, they've gotten this far.