Santa Barbara Beekeeping
A few weeks ago on an early Tuesday morning my roommate yelled at me to get out of bed and look out the window. I was half asleep but quickly woke up when I saw that the little beehive we had outside our window was swarming with probably a thousand bees buzzing around. We told our third roommate, who also was sleeping, to close his window and come and take a look. We all understood that we needed to take action, but how were we going to get rid of thousands of bees hidden inside our wall about ten feet up from the ground?
We called the Santa Barbara Beekeepers Association, a California non-profit organization that helps people in trouble with bees. Nick, an expert from SBBA, arrived a few days later in his truck filled with all kinds of equipment along with three other volunteers to help us take care of the bees.
“My goal today is to get the bees out safely, in order to do that I need to create a hole in the wall where I can touch the bees.” – Nick, SBBA.
To reach the hive in our wall Nick had to cut out a hole in the concrete wall with a powerful saw. He could then reach the honeycombs and the queen. By putting the queen in a special built box the other bees will follow and they are safely stored for transportation. The box is put on the roof over night to make sure that all of the bees make their way in before it is transported to a bee farm. The last bees are vacuumed out of the hive before the entrance and the hole made from the saw is covered.
“Bees are incredibly gentle they just sometimes get in the wrong location and our goal is to save them otherwise they will get exterminated.” – Nick, SBBA.
It was a great experience to see how a big hive like this is taken care of by professionals. With a professional approach the volunteers made the job look easy and harmless. Nick estimated the number of bees in the hive to about 2,500 after that the hive had split that Tuesday morning earlier the same week. From now on I know where to reach out if I ever are in need of a beekeeper again.
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