First the woodpecker, now … the bees

| Gatewood | Seen around town | Wildlife

Just in from Pam of Nerd’s Eye View:

We were walking back from the Farmers Market today and saw a swarm of bees in the hedge along California in front of the church at Cali and Othello, right here in Gatewood. I figured if anyone knew of a West Seattle beekeeper, this would be the place to find them – the keeper, not the bees.

The bees are placid enough. I don’t know much about bees, but they showed no interest in us and look to be of the fuzzy honey making variety, not the waspy kind that built a nest in our friends’ house.

Beekeepers, go get ’em. Those allergic might want to walk on the East side of Cali at Othello in Gatewood.

Bzzzz.

Anybody have expertise in this? Leave ’em … bee? (P.S. If the woodpecker reference in the headline seems out of context, look here.)

Heather April 27, 2008 (6:29 pm)

We saw these, too, and tried in vain to find a beekeeper yesterday. When we went by this afternoon they seemed to be gone–may have been migrating from one place to another? Hopefully no one came out and sprayed them, which is what we were worried about.

Courtney April 27, 2008 (6:33 pm)

Don’t know much about bees, but we did find a nest of them in our bird house yesterday. They are Orange Rumped Bumble Bees according to my husband. We’re just leaving them be (no pun intended)! We’re excited for the pollination opportunity.

Matt April 27, 2008 (8:51 pm)

Sounds like a swarm. Feral hives will split and a new queen and many of the workers will take off to find a new home. They will continue on their way of their own accord or you can contact the Puget Sound beekeepers association and request that local swarm guy come remove the bees. The bees will be given a new home (hive) and be put to work making honey.

http://www.psbees.org/swarmlst.htm

If the swarm is low to the ground (not up in a tree) and about the size of a basketball, the swarm is accessible and large enough to pique the interest of a beekeeper. The fellow who removed my swarm showed up with a modified rechargeable hand-held vacuum that had an empty five gallon water bottle attached to the exit end of the vacuum. He trimmed a couple o branches away from the shrub the bees were located in and gently sucked the bees into the bottle until he knew he had sucked in the queen. He secured some mesh across the opening with a rubber band, handed me a jar of honey, and drove away with the bees.

The fact that there are swarms showing up is probably a good sign given the big bee die-off over the past year.

K April 27, 2008 (10:12 pm)

We encountered a swarm of bees in that exact same spot LAST weekend. They must have a hive nearby.

beef April 27, 2008 (11:01 pm)

lol. i know SWS secretary Brian Allen has some bee colonies. don;t know if this makes him a candidate.

Vlad April 28, 2008 (9:13 am)

Just one other thing about swarms: you have to get someone there the same day. They are only there for that day, scoping out a permanent place to move into (permanently), they fly off the next to that location (hopefully not someone’s garage). You should also know that a swarm has the gentlest bees, since they still don’t have a home to protect and also because they are each carrying as much as 75% of their body weight in honey to help them survive their move.

P.S. I keep a couple of hives at my Gatewood home, that swarm wasn’t from our apiary… but I would have been glad to pick up the swarm if I had known it was out there ;-)

Sorry, comment time is over.