Better bees in the trees than in her bonnet (06/02/08)

I had never seen anything like it in my life. At first I thought it was just the spent blossoms of one of the lilacs. When I reached out to deadhead the branch something stopped me. Perhaps it was a guardian angel, perhaps it was common sense kicking in but my hand stopped mere inches away from a colony of bees.

The lady in the car lot behind our house said the swarm had arrived that very afternoon. She had seen a big black cloud that streaked across the sky and settled in the lilac.

The colony was shaped like the underside of my grandmother's arm and was about the same size. A dozen or so honeybees floated around but most of them clung together in a mass. It's a wonder the ones on the inside didn't smother or get squished.

They let me get as close as I liked. I was so amazed that I could actually see the laciness of their wings and the stripes on their perfectly-shaped bodies. They didn't seem to be the least bit upset at being scrutinized and studied.

It was the first time I had ever seen a real bee up close and personal. I was blind as the proverbial bat as a child and the only bees I could really see were fuzzy giant bumblebees. Honeybees were far too small for me to see. I knew they were around when I stepped on one.

Our neighbors had an apple orchard. They kept several hives of bees around for pollination. Of course I was never allowed anywhere close to the hives. I couldn't even see tiny shadows flying around the square white boxes. Sometimes they would sell us a honeycomb dripping with honey. Delicious!

If the bees had settled high in one of our maple trees I would have left them alone. However, they chose a branch at eye level next to the car lot. I was afraid someone would try to dislodge them and get stung or worse yet, try to destroy the entire colony.

After repeatedly going out there to check on them and resisting the urge to touch them, I went to bed for the night. They were still there the next morning. From the activity, I guessed that most of them were still asleep.

I called a local beekeeper to come get them. He arrived in the middle of the morning. He parked his battered car near the lilac and went over to take a look.

He took out what appeared to be a beat up coffee pot with a bellows attached. He dropped in a few chunks of wood and lit them on fire and placed the bottom of an empty white wooden hive under the branch. This was followed by the new square home the bees were to inhabit.

He then donned the standard veiled beekeepers hat and long gauntlet-type gloves. He closed up his "coffeepot" and blew smoke on the bees. I have read that is to calm them down. They didn't appear to be upset in the first place.

Then he did the most amazing thing. He walked over to the branch and bent it down to where it was touching the slotted box. The bees clung together. He sawed off the branch and left it on top of the box.

I still can't believe that the bees stayed in a mass while he was doing all this. I expected them to break ranks and fly all over the place. A few did, but most of them took it as nothing to get upset about.

After most of them had entered their new abode he put the top on the box and left. He came back a day or so later and transported them to their new location. I missed that part.

I have read that there are several bee diseases going around and the honeybee population is in decline. If I could save this colony from extinction then I feel I have done my good deed for the day. I only hope they are happy wherever they are and not upset at being relocated.

The bees clung together while their home was being moved. They did not turn on each other nor did they get visibly upset. They accepted help in the form of a new home and went about the business of being bees. How unlike human beings they are.

All that is left is a memory and a little bit of wax on a broken branch.

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