Bees Discovered In Hollow Tree Get Second Chance At Better Life
ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4)- Ray Story will tell you all about bees.
"Honeybees are very docile," he says. "They are just very very gentle."
He's a beekeeper and the Education Outreach person for the Colorado State Beekeepers' Association. So when they city of Arvada found a hollow tree full of bees, they called the right person.
"They gave me a call on Wednesday and I went out there and we pretty much secured it took some of the stuff out some of the bees etcetera. We had to come back the next day and finish the job."
This this is a feral hive. It's when some bees find an old abandoned honeycomb, and just decide to move in.
"It's like college guys... 'Ooooh furnished apartment!'"
The City may have found them just in the nick of time. Bees need about five gallons of honey to survive the winter. This hive only had two ounces.
According to Ray that's not uncommon, "The majority of feral hives don't make it through the winter."
He knows they faced certain doom if they would have remained undiscovered.
"They would have perished without our intervention so they are fortunate that the tree was cut down and we went out and got them."
Now the bees are part of the Story colony and he's going to make sure they make it through the winter.
"They will have a good life. They will be re-homed and nursed throughout the winter."
That's just fine by him, "We totally love having any bees that we can find."
Honeybees are having a hard time surviving these days so Ray says if you see a hive somewhere it shouldn't be, don't kill the bees, call a bee removal expert like him.
Michael Abeyta is a 4th generation Coloradan and a Multimedia Journalist for CBS4. His stories can be seen on CBS4 News at 5 & 6. He is on Twitter! Follow him @AbeytaCBS4.