My strangest location yet, but with only one year of experience I'm sure I'll see stranger in the future.
Got a call yesterday from a pest control guy that gives me his swarm calls and he said he just had a call from a woman who had a swarm in her Porsche. She had been shopping and came out of a store onto a street with a full-out swarm going on. She went back inside and came back in 30 minutes and was able to easily get to her SUV and drive off. Turns out she apparently took a small part of the swarm with her and didn't know it until more than an hour later when her son opened the back hatch to get something. It's always my last resort but I decided I had to use the Vac on this one, given the circumstances. It took just a few minutes and hours later the bees seemed vital and active so I'm hoping most survived the ordeal. Man, I hate using that thing!
The woman was a great sport and aside from the time lost, really thought it was kind of funny. She kept asking, "Why me?", "Why would they go into a car?". Not a lot of bees, and I have no idea if there is a queen, but I pocketed a quick $50 for my trouble, so I can't complain. Seems like it could be a busy season! This was number four in the last two weeks and it's cold and rainy here.
(http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f42/ejb9925/Misc/Picture059x.jpg)
She drives a Porsche and you only charged her $50??? :-D
Good job...I hope you got her majesty!
Scott
Sweet! Bees have good taste for high-end cars. Looks like a Cayenne. =)
BTW, where in East Bay are you? I got a call from a lady in Alamo, out of my area, so maybe I can pass those bee removal calls to you on the East side.
Quote from: montauk170 on March 23, 2011, 04:17:15 PM
Sweet! Bees have good taste for high-end cars. Looks like a Cayenne. =)
BTW, where in East Bay are you? I got a call from a lady in Alamo, out of my area, so maybe I can pass those bee removal calls to you on the East side.
Yep, Cayenne. Pretty well kid-worn inside but the bees didn't seem to mind. I've retrieved two swarms from Alamo this year. I'm in San Ramon so it's just 15 minutes for me. I'll PM you with details.
How far/ fast did she drive? Just wonder how many / what percentage of the bees did she lose? Funny story.
great catch, schawee
The bay area is hopping now it seems, for swarms. Great story.
Quote from: AllenF on March 23, 2011, 09:28:24 PM
How far/ fast did she drive? Just wonder how many / what percentage of the bees did she lose? Funny story.
She told me she was driving around town for well over an hour before they found the bees. I think she took just a small part of the swarm because she said when she first saw it, there was still a cloud of bees in the air and a lot more on her car than what I retrieved. I have a feeling the swarm had chosen a tree or something and were leaving her car so she drove off with those that didn't get out in time.