See Concept
Related Articles
Content of the article
Downtown Windsor was abuzz on Wednesday with news of some unexpected visitors – a swarm of 4,000 bees that have taken up temporary residence at a bus stop.
Advertisement 2
Content of the article
Well, not everyone was talking about it.
“There were actually two people sitting on the bench less than a meter from it, apparently unaware that there were 4,000 bees next to them,” said Transit beekeeper Tim Purdie. Windsor called in to handle the delicate situation. “Even though the shutdown had duct tape around it.”
The swarm of bees appeared overnight at the stop near Shoppers Drug Mart on Wyandotte Street, between Ouellette Avenue and Dufferin Place.
Purdie and her daughter, Drew, went to check on the situation Wednesday morning.
“About 4,000 bees clustered in the corner of the glass enclosure in a very tall vertical line, probably like eight feet from floor to ceiling,” said Purdie, one of 300 Essex County beekeepers and founder of the Essex County Beekeepers Club.
Advertisement 3
Content of the article
He said the bees had no intention of taking over the bus stop permanently.
“They’re full of honey,” Purdie said. “So they stuffed themselves at the source from which they left, full of honey, with the intention of putting it in a new store. When they are in this state, it is like when we eat too much. They are just very comfortable and not aggressive. This is a pit stop along the way to find a permanent home. You call it a swarm.
He said the best way to capture a swarm is to hit the queen, which is about twice the size of other bees.
“So you’re looking for that queen out of the 4,000,” he said.
His daughter found it in about two minutes.
“That’s why I love when she comes,” Purdie said. “It would have taken me a lot longer with bifocals.”
Advertisement 4
Content of the article
Then they used a queen claw, which looks like a hair clip, to rip the queen out of the swarm and move her into a temporary box.
“This queen has a pheromone, a unique scent to her,” Purdie said. “And all the bees there, all 3,999, will sense that she’s been moved from that place and they’ll literally walk straight into that box.”
But because it was so hot on Wednesday, some of the bees were moving a bit slowly. So Purdie pulled out his “bee vacuum” to suck up stragglers and get things going.
“It’s basically a Shop-Vac hooked up to an empty bee hive,” Purdie said. “We’ve sucked up all the remaining bees in this box and will combine them when we get home.”
