Battling Bees: Thousands Rounded Up In Fair Oaks Neighborhood
FAIR OAKS (CBS13) – Thousands of bees took over a Fair Oaks neighborhood and needed to be rounded up.
It became a problem Tuesday.
"I've learned a lot about bees in 24 hours," said Karlie Beal.
Thousands of bees swarmed more than 40 feet up in the air in Beal's big oak tree out back in Fair Oaks.
"We've had a bunch of people come look at them, but no one can reach them," she said.
She was busy as a bee, calling beekeepers until she talked with a guy who knew a guy named D.W, a retired internet security consultant with Blue Green Horizons.
"I spend my time as the B team. I get called second, but I get all the difficult ones," D.W. said.
Instead of hacking systems, he's hacking hives.
"It's called public space swarm relocation," he said, and added, "So what we're going to do is put some baby comb in [a] bucket and I'm going to raise it up to [a] swarm.
He jostled the swarm, knocking the queen into the bucket and the bees followed.
"Once they're in the air, they're going to go, 'Where is she? I want to be near her,' " D.W. said.
The bees then took flight – all part of the plan. Down below, the Beal kids made a beeline for their grandma.
"Isn't this fun?" Grandma said as the kids ran for cover in her arms.
Within minutes, nearly all the bees were captured in the container. From chaos to calm, as the Queen Bee started doing what Queen Bees do: Issuing orders.
"Kind of like Mom at the cabin for the first time of the year. There's dishes to do. There's floors to sweep," D.W. said.
It was a golden opportunity for the Beals – a break from distance learning for a different kind of education.
"I was nervous at first thinking it could fall or something could happen, but we're getting kind of attached to the bees. I want them to go to a good home," said Karlie Beal.
The bees were collected and taken to an apiary where they are being tested to see if they are healthy and then relocated to 4-H groups and other organizations.