Bees!!! Thousands of bees!!!

[Cirlonde]

We had a rather over-exciting afternoon at my house yesterday! I took Chloe out at about 1pm to do her business and I heard this pretty loud whirring noise. I just put it off as lawn mowers in the distance. As Chloe finished up and we walked away, I glanced around and there were literally thousands of bees flying in a vertical, blurred square about ten feet away from me. It was at least six feet long by three feet tall and was centered in front of a large cedar tree. I have never seen so many bees!

Now, we've complained once about the bees that appear to be living in our neighbor's wall but were told by the landlord that bees "are just a problem" around here and they've never been able to successfully get rid of them. I have my doubts about how hard they've tried. So since I knew the landlord wasn't going to do anything, I started researching bees for myself. Turns out, that about this time of the year bees that are overcrowding the hive follow a newly produced queen to a new hive. While they are waiting on little scout bees to determine the location of the new home, the remaining bees form this ball of solid bees and hang from a tree or fence post. Once the scouts find a good spot, they return to the main bunch and lead them home. The website I found suggested that if you see one of these "swarms" you should contact a local beekeeper. Since these swarms are waiting on a new home to be found for them, it's the perfect time for a beekeeper to relocate them to one of his hives. So...I set out to find a beekeeper in our area.

Now, when I was outside, I hadn't noticed any football shaped swarm of bees; just the floating "wall". But I still wanted rid of the bees so I figured it couldn't hurt to look around. I absolutely couldn't believe it, but I found a guy almost right away. When my husband got home, he and I walked out together to where I'd seen the bees and they were GONE! All but a handful. My husband kept looking though, and sure enough!! All those bees had formed into this "swarm" I'd read about and were hanging from a low branch on the cedar tree. The bees were so heavy that they had pulled the branch nearly to the ground. So my husband immediately called the guy whose info I'd found and he came out right away. I bet he showed up in fifteen minutes. He said they were "just beautiful" and gathered them into a plastic container wearing nothing but a bee hat, t-shirt and shorts. He was CRAZY!! And he didn't charge us anything!

Due to the size, if you want to see pictures you'll have to check them out on my Picasa photo album here: Picasa Web Albums - Chelsey - Bees. If I make them small enough to attach, you won't be able to see the bees.
-C

[Britster]

OMG -- so scary!!!!

When I was around 6-7 years old, we kids were outside playing running around and we stepped on a yellow jacket's hive that was buried in the ground. Me and 2 other friends got attacked really bad. I had literally around 35-40 bees on me and it was so scary! I remember just laying on the floor and my mom taking all my clothes off and seeing dead bees dropping everywhere.

I hate bees!

[Cha Cha]

Wow! That is both scary and exciting. I love things like that in nature, but I have to admit, I am allergic to bee stings, so that would have freightened me, but I am still a bit jealous that you got to witness this amazing act of nature. So cool!

[Woogie Man]

That's just fascinating!!

[Cirlonde]

It was really neat once I knew someone was going to come take them away! At first, I was pretty terrified. Between worrying about what if the dog gets stung and what if my husband gets stung (who is deathly allergic), I was too busy to appreciate it. I usually walk the dog right along the line of trees that contains that cedar tree, so I wasn't sure where else to take the poor dog.

The beekeeper said there may be a second, smaller swarm come to that same tree in a couple of weeks and to call him back if it does show up. So I have to keep my eyes peeled just in case. According to the internet, swarming bees are very docile because they don't have a hive to defend. But I'd still rather not take any chances!

Oh wow Britster!! Man, I don't know if I could have recovered from something like that. I hate flying stinging things and I can't imagine being covered in them!! That's like my worst nightmare!
-C

[alisonJ]

that is really amazing. Thanks for sharing the photos. I don't know if I would have believed it if I had not seen it!!!!

[MyPann]

That is soooo cool and sooo scary at the same time! When I was little I used to play with bees, I'd catch them in a tang container or in my hand and shake them up and watch them fly away,I never got stung by the ones I played with though. One landed on me in the late fall and as I was examining it on my hand it stung me, musta been getting back at me for my torture of its friends. I was a bit of a tomboy now I just leave them alone

[Maximo]

Yikes! Your pictures are amazing.

I know bees are necessary, but I hate being stung. Now I worry about my dogs being stung. We have a yard full holly and other bee attractants. The bees are so thick, we cannot go outside most of the day.

The only next we have had in the yard was underground, built by huge bumblebees under our deck. For our safety, we had to have it eliminated.

[yorkieusa]

Wow! That was something to see. I hope I never find anything like that in my yard though.

[PiePiper]

I hate bees! A few years ago I was mowing the lawn and I ran over a nest of yellow jackets. I didn't even realize it until I felt sharp stinging sensations all over my legs. I was wearing shorts and there were bees all over my legs crawling up my shorts. I thought about getting rid of the shorts but didn't want to shock the neighbors so I ran towards the house swatting my legs and swinging my arms around to protect my face. I ended getting stung about 60 times, mostly on my ankles, legs and hands. Since that incident if I just get one bee sting the area really swells. Each time I'm stung the reaction is worse than the time before.

[Britster]

Originally Posted by PiePiper

I hate bees! A few years ago I was mowing the lawn and I ran over a nest of yellow jackets. I didn't even realize it until I felt sharp stinging sensations all over my legs. I was wearing shorts and there were bees all over my legs crawling up my shorts. I thought about getting rid of the shorts but didn't want to shock the neighbors so I ran towards the house swatting my legs and swinging my arms around to protect my face. I ended getting stung about 60 times, mostly on my ankles, legs and hands. Since that incident if I just get one bee sting the area really swells. Each time I'm stung the reaction is worse than the time before.

Wow, we have similar stories. Those yellow jackets are killer!! The big bumblebees I don't mind so much because they don't really ever bother me. But yep I also got attacked by them from a nest in the ground.

[yorkieusa]

Originally Posted by Britster

Wow, we have similar stories. Those yellow jackets are killer!! The big bumblebees I don't mind so much because they don't really ever bother me. But yep I also got attacked by them from a nest in the ground.

I hate those things, too. For some reason, they started making nests in the area around our yard and I fought them for maybe 10 years before I got them stopped. I was so afraid my little Muffin was going to get stung.

[tjdmom]

Wow! How interesting but yet how scary at the same time! Thanks for sharing the pics!

[BamaFan121s]

Holy crow! That would be my worst nightmare. I would have to put my house up for sale! Seriously, there were wasps flying around my front window last week and it made me so nervous I left the house for a few hours.

I've actually seen bees do that once on my uncles tree a long time ago. A beekeeper person came out and got them too. He reached in bare handed, grabbed a fistful that he claimed had the 'queen' in it (like how could he tell!?) and put them in a big box. And all the other bees followed them in there.

Cool pics. Thanks for sharing!

[JasmineNoelle]

I love to work in my gardens but I give the bees their space, a lot of space. I have never seen a swarm of bees and pray I never do except for these amazing pictures.