# We've Got Bees !



## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

After observing a swarm of bees large enough to cast a shadow over our back yard flying around, they have decided to settle into a giant "bee ball" in our orange tree and have been just sitting there for 3 days now. I guess they like it because the orange tree is in full bloom and full of wonderful smelling flowers.

It's pretty freaky. At first I thought is was a nest of some sort with the bees walking around on the surface. Then, I noticed that the "nest" was changing shapes! That thing is a SOLID ball of bees!

I have a beekeeper coming in the morning so my kiddies can have use of the yard again. Gonna shoot some video if I can get close enough. Cool!


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Hope you can safely get some video, it would be neat to see.









Real glad you saw it before it saw the kids tho.

John


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

Mmmmmmm.....Orange Blossom Honey!!!

Glad every one is safe (except the bees maybe)


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Would love to see the video. Perhaps you can upload it to YouTube.


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## goneflyfishin (Jan 12, 2007)

California Jim said:


> After observing a swarm of bees large enough to cast a shadow over our back yard flying around, they have decided to settle into a giant "bee ball" in our orange tree and have been just sitting there for 3 days now. I guess they like it because the orange tree is in full bloom and full of wonderful smelling flowers.
> 
> It's pretty freaky. At first I thought is was a nest of some sort with the bees walking around on the surface. Then, I noticed that the "nest" was changing shapes! That thing is a SOLID ball of bees!
> 
> I have a beekeeper coming in the morning so my kiddies can have use of the yard again. Gonna shoot some video if I can get close enough. Cool!


I had this happen two different times a few years ago, the bee keeper came and reached into the ball of bees (with proper safety gear on) found the qween bee and placed her in a bee box. The bee keeper returned after dark and all the other bees had followed her into the box. The final score was no one stung and no bees had to die.


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## Castle Rock Outbackers (Jan 18, 2004)

Definitely post some pictures, CJ.

Randy


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## 4ME (Sep 11, 2006)

That happened to my brother when he was living in Fresno.
It sound like quite a site! I bet the Bee Keeper will be happy to receive some new stock.
Those guys have taken a pretty good beating in tha last few yaers with colony collapse.
Please post some pics when possible.


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

We usually get a ball of bees around this time ourselves









A good basketball size is around 20,000-30,000 bees!









I wish I had taken pics or a video of the last time bees moved into our wooden hot tub steps...Pat got tired of paying a bee keeper over $200.00 to remove them, so he got this bright idea to tape a couple of foggers on the end of a long pole, set them off, shove them into the bee ball and then he had to run for his life!


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## the eubies (Sep 7, 2006)

This happened to us a few years ago. We tried squirting with a water hose and it just bounced off. They stayed a day or so. The swarm left at the same time our sprinkler system came on. Not sure if the vibration from sprinklers bothered them but the queen thankfully decided to go elsewhere.


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

Bees Bees everywhere! Big Rig overturns


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## Airboss (Jul 14, 2007)

skippershe said:


> Bees Bees everywhere! Big Rig overturns


CA - RAZ - ZY !!! Never seen anything like that video!!


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

I have prolly hauled 80-100 loads of bees back when I was flatbeddin.. A load of 500 bee hives is the most top heavy load I have ever hauled and that includes comparring to a gasoline tanker. When those hives are full of honey there is no way to really know how your truck is going to be effected by a curve in the highway till its too late. The honey has a wierd delay reaction that is very hard to predict. They stack em 13'6 feet high. its like hauling a load of liquid that is two gasoline tankers high.

I used to haul them from the Carolinas, Upper and lower midwest to the San Jauqiune valley in the fall and haul them back east starting this time of year till late may.

There is no way to pollinate an orchard or field without super charged leased bees.. There simply isnt enough bees in the natural world to polinate an orchard to 100% in a few weeks time. One keeper we hauled for brought 500 truckloads out and worked em in Cali.

I always voluntered to haul them.. I would have to stop and give the lil guys a drink 2-3 times a day.. I would pull into a truckstop and soak em with a water hose.. You could hear the buzz quiet down.. I always took good care of them and loved hauling them. I almost flipped it numerous times, one time i was doing about 5 -10 mph making a left turn on a off cambered corner.. Scared the heck out of me..

They paid double what a normal load paid.. So i was all over it!

Carey


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> I have prolly hauled 80-100 loads of bees back when I was flatbeddin.. ......
> Carey


Carey, we thought of you as we were watching the news! I remembered your wonderful stories about hauling and giving them drinks and scheduling your driving/resting times to match their needs. Glad you never got yourself into one of those sticky situations! What a mess! And WHAT an expense! Never mind the truck.....ALLL THOSE BEES!!!!







Sure hope they can retrieve them - or, alot of them anyway!


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

We allowed a beekeeper to keep half dozen boxes on our farm growing up. I actually miss always having them around. The *gallon* of fresh honey he gave us twice a year wasn't bad either.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

wolfwood said:


> I have prolly hauled 80-100 loads of bees back when I was flatbeddin.. ......
> Carey


Carey, we thought of you as we were watching the news! I remembered your wonderful stories about hauling and giving them drinks and scheduling your driving/resting times to match their needs. Glad you never got yourself into one of those sticky situations! What a mess! And WHAT an expense! Never mind the truck.....ALLL THOSE BEES!!!!







Sure hope they can retrieve them - or, alot of them anyway!
[/quote]

Its too bad... Those bees are junk and cant be recovered. Generally they burn the hives on the spot.. prolly not in cali though.

The bee keepers declare them a total loss. Insurance pays 1/4 million or so for the truckload. The hive will die as all of the important bees have either died in the crash or left. The queen will quit producing eggs. There city has basically had a huge earthquake and tornado all at once. If the hive was left alone and the queen and some workers stayed the hive could recover in time.. Beekeepers have no time for that. There bees have high quality genes and are raised to do one thing.. They kill many queens and intro new queens throughout the life of the hive.

A bee cannot come back to another hive.. they would either be killed or not accepted.

Pretty much they are considered a total loss.. The bees who flew away have no support and will die very soon.

In a crash the hives would need left at the scene for for several days so some may come back.. The public wont accept that.. They want there highway back now.. its much easier to just burn em.

Carey


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## ember (Jan 17, 2008)

Mother Nature does have her intriquessy's (spelled terribly wrong, but I think you can figure out what I'm trying to say)


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

ember said:


> Mother Nature does have her intriquessy's (spelled terribly wrong, but I think you can figure out what I'm trying to say)


Hey, I'll give you extra credit for even trying to spell that one


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

ember said:


> Mother Nature does have her intriquessy's (spelled terribly wrong, but I think you can figure out what I'm trying to say)


Yup - and if Human Nature would just leave Her alone, we'd all be better off...in sooooo many ways!

Carey - that's what I expected. And, even if the truck with the hives was "allowed" to sit...there's probably been so much stuff sprayed on, in, and around it that no self-respecting bee would be caught in the area....even if it could survive the poison







The entire food-chain suffers....from the bees all the way thru to the humans who would have eaten the crop (if it had ever grown)...as well as all the economic points in between.


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Kind of sad to report that the bees have been "euthanized". There was no where to take them, and no interest or time to find someone willing to colonize them. Kind of a bummer, but at least the kiddies are safe back there now.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

California Jim said:


> Kind of sad to report that the bees have been "euthanized". There was no where to take them, and no interest or time to find someone willing to colonize them. Kind of a bummer, but at least the kiddies are safe back there now.


BZ Z Z Z Z Z Z


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## prankster (Dec 20, 2007)

bet your glad they werent killer bees!!!!


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

prankster said:


> bet your glad they werent killer bees!!!!


Bet they are sad he *WAS* a Killer California Jim


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)




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