![](https://westseattleblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_6835-1-e1399928328139.jpg)
12:47 PM: On our way to check out multiple reports of a bee swarm at Westwood. We mention it in advance because beekeepers have asked us to mention as often as possible, please do NOT panic, do NOT try to poison them – swarming is natural, especially this time of year, and the best thing to do is to contact somebody on the Puget Sound Beekeepers Association‘s swarm list to come remove them – if you can’t just wait them out. Here’s our recent story about all this.
![](https://westseattleblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_6819-e1399930527914.jpg)
1:31 PM: We are here and a beekeeper (above, in hat) is too. He says this is a relatively small group, maybe 20,000. They break off from a hive and hang out 15 minutes to 2 days until a scout brings back word of a suitable new spot. He will hang out after collecting these so the scouts come back. Photos shortly.
![](https://westseattleblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_6831-1-e1399930618165.jpg)
2:01 PM: Photos added. The beekeeper, Clay Cook (who is on this year’s list of PSBA beekeepers to call about swarms), says it’s home turf for him since he works part-time at Westwood Village. He said that bees swarming like this generally would have left their original hive not far away, so any of the “scouts” that scattered while he was up there and didn’t make it into his box would likely find their way back to that nest.
![](https://westseattleblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_6839-1-e1399928313913.jpg)
It was heartening to see people stopping and remarking how cool it was to see the bees, instead of getting scared and bolting (of course, it’s understandable if you’re allergic; one passing driver slowed down and then, when informed that the buzz was about bees, said she needed to get out of there since she is).
![](https://westseattleblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_6809-e1399932162590.jpg)
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