It is swarm season! Today we agreed to pick up a second swarm at 5th and Quebec near the Denver Montclair International School. This was the second swarm in as many days. The swarm was situated on a tree just outside the school grounds. This swarm was more alert than the swarm we collected yesterday, especially when the collection box fell off the ladder when the bee's weight shifted the box too much! The homeowner who called us about the swarm was stung when a bee accidently flew in to her shirt and surprised her. Whoops! Fortunately, she was very understanding.
Once the bees were in their transport box and had begun to settle down, we spent some time with the homeowner and her children and even showed them how friendly and harmless the drones could be. The kids had a great time letting the drone bee crawl across their hands and arms.
(Miss Bee Haven says this one maybe didn't go as planned, and a box of bees falling off the ladder definitely gets the bees a little hyped up and irritated. I was soooo impressed with these kids though, and their mother. They asked a lot of great questions and truly seemed to care about the fuzzy insects that had invaded their neighborhood. Aren't their smiles beautiful? The bees were re-located to a friend's bee yard in Lakewood. She had just lost a queen in one of her hives, and the colony was in danger of dying without the queen. She was very excited when we called, and reported this evening that the swarm integrated quickly in to the new hive and seems happy. Talk about perfect timing! In exchange for the box of bees, she brought us some fresh eggs from her chickens, and a divinely scented bar of soap. An awesome trade on an awesome day!)
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