Got a call today about a swarm on a trailer in a Barnes & Noble distribution warehouse. Of course, the bees are at the top of the 13' 6" trailer, and I'm at work. I have a small car, so I don't carry a ladder with me. I follow a coworker home...her husband has an A frame ladder that I can use. I'm figuring 8, 10 feet. Nope. It's a 5 foot ladder. I'm 6 feet tall, so 2 feet over my head could be worse.
Well. I get there, sign in with the guard, and go to collect the bees. Looks like an unusually small swarm. Then I look down, and someone has managed to knock half the swarm to the ground and sprayed them with pesticides. I was livid, but from the stains, they only sprayed what fell to the ground, they didn't spray the whole swarm.
I used my precarious ladder to collect most of the remaining swarm, and at that point, one of their truckers comes over and offers me a boost on his truck with my ladder. It helped a bit, but by that point, I was really planning on leaving the stragglers. But to show gratitude for his help (he was so afraid of the bees, he barely cracked his window to talk to me...and I was without a veil by that point, and in short sleeves), I tried to get as many of the remaining bees into my box, without falling.
I figure i got 3 lb of bees, could easily have been 5 if they hadn;t killed so many. I have them in my basement and will merge them with one of my hives in the morning. I wanted to wait and make sure these didn't have some low level pesticide exposure before combining them with one of my healthy hives.
Good Job Moonshae! I hate it when these idiots decide to try to be a hero and open up a can of Raid on poor honeybees. It burns a hole in my butt! Glad you got them. Let us know if you got the queen. Take some photos of possible.
I had similar situation at eagle point refinery w/ spraying. The bees died w/in two days and I was glad I didn't combine them. I didn't get queen which may have contributed, but i think they had some poison on them too. Just my .02. Hate when that happens. Swarms calls have been reuced to a crawl.
Quote from: KONASDAD on May 29, 2008, 10:43:03 AM
I had similar situation at eagle point refinery w/ spraying. The bees died w/in two days and I was glad I didn't combine them. I didn't get queen which may have contributed, but i think they had some poison on them too. Just my .02. Hate when that happens. Swarms calls have been reduced to a crawl.
I was surprised to have a call; I had been getting one almost every day, and then none for more than a week. I was glad to get this one, and I'd be glad to get one more...hopefully unsprayed!
I only waited overnight to check for pesticide exposure, but I'm fairly certain they only sprayed the bees on the ground...there was no residue on the side of the trailer. I combined them with a weak hive, so they'll help it along one way or the other!
Yea the can of RAID chaps my butt too. Ignorance. Nice job.
I never understand why they call a beekeeper and then try to kill the bees.
Quote from: Michael Bush on May 31, 2008, 02:34:01 PM
I never understand why they call a beekeeper and then try to kill the bees.
I have a feeling it's not the same people. I mean, if departments don't communicate with each other about business things, this wouldn't be any different.
I got a 911 call today, called the guy, told him not to spray, hold tight I would be there soon. Called him 30 minutes later to let him know I was coming and he said he had sprayed them with the water hose.
I said good luck and that I now was not coming out.
...JP
I don't know what's wrong with people sometimes. So far, I've had pretty good luck with people being responsible and not spraying, except the one time. 1/9 swarm calls seems like a fair ratio of responsible people to idiots. I'm willing to bet it's higher than the general population.