Ok, I know this blog is about food, wine and nutrition though this post is kinda related. Yesterday morning after tending to my herb garden, I was drying off my feet on my bench when I noticed something black in my tree. I initially thought it was the black stray cat who occasionally visits my deck or runs under the house. But then I realized it was a resting honey bee swarm - and this is the "related" part. Honey bees are essential for food production as vanilla beans are the only food I konw of that is pollinated by man.
So I immediately retreated to the house to Google "honey bee removal on Oahu". One site had the beekeeper on the North Shore but the contact link immediately sent me to a message that they were dealing with a family health emergency so they weren't available. Another beekeeper had no phone contact but you had to submit your request electronically and they would decide how urgent your request was... nope. A 3rd beekeeper had his phone listed but the earliest he could show up was the next day. A 4th took me to Yelp to request an estimate but it also linked me to two other pest extermination businesses which I didn't want - I wanted the swarm safely removed but NOT killed since bees are essential for our own survival. One extermination business immediately got back to me... $350... nope, plus again I didn't want the bees killed. A 2nd extermination business needed more information... nope again since I didn't want the bees exterminated. The last Yelp link was for Honey Bee Rescue which also included a phone number which I called.
Pete from Honey Bee Rescue said he was just leaving Ewa Beach and actually arrived at my house within the hour. Within the next hour, he found the queen bee and got most of the bees into the bee box.
While waiting for the colony to "march" into the bee box to follow their queen, Pete explained that saving bees was more of a passion as his real employment was his company that produced outdoor play stations for children complete with those rubberized mats but that saving bee colonies eventually turned into another, almost full time job.
He even left me a miniature bottle of honey from colonies he's rescued over time - he has hives in Waimanalo and Kaneohe...
When I first spotted the resting swarm, I thought it was small but Pete informed me that it was one of the larger swarms he's encountered estimating that there were at least 15k bees...
So if you live on Oahu and find a resting swarm of honey bees in your yard, I can't think of a better person to call than Pete Morrow from Honey Bee Rescue... https://www.instagram.com/honey_bee_rescue_808/ #honey_bee_rescue_808
Comments