Image Credit: File Photo
May 03, 2018 - 6:00 PM
VERNON - Under usual circumstances, lost animals include dogs, cats, and sometimes the odd budgie, but this week in Vernon, a local woman took to Facebook for help finding a swarm of honeybees that took off.
Irina Ploessner, a backyard bee hobbyist in the North Okanagan, says some rebellious bees from one of her colonies first “swarmed out” on Tuesday, May 1, although they didn’t go far — at first.
“They only flew around 20 feet to an elderberry bush we have here,” she says.
She and her husband suited up and sprayed the cluster with sticky sugar water to prevent them from flying and cut the branch they clumped to and shook them off gently into a new hive.
“Apparently they didn’t like their new hive and just over 24 hours later swarmed again as we were outside and kept flying this time,” Ploessner says.
That’s when she decided to put out an APB on the swarm of roughly 1,500 bees, and posted on the Vernon & Area Community Forum, which has helped reconnect many people with lost animals in the past.
“My husband and father chased the cloud of bees on foot until they couldn’t anymore and our hope was to have eyes in the area as they are hard to not see and they make an incredible sound,” Ploessner says.
She had another reason for spreading the word too.
READ MORE: Don't bee afraid of prime bee swarms
“To warn folks in the vicinity because it can be quite intimidating to have thousands of bees flying around you and perhaps towards you,” she says.
People on the community forum immediately startied jumping in to report sightings.
“Our bees travelled probably one kilometre or less before landing in the Gracelands community way up on a maple tree,” Ploessner says, explaining that a tip from the community forum led to their whereabouts.
Irina Ploessner's bees swarm on a branch in Vernon.
Image Credit: Irina Ploessner
Her husband ran home, got the car and drove to their suspected location and found them. In the end, Ploessner says they decided to let the bees go their own way given the risky maneuvering required to catch them.
“It would have involved climbing a tree, or finding a very big ladder. Perhaps cutting limbs off trees on private property,” Ploessner says.
Even though they weren’t able to catch the bees, Ploessner says that’s OK and she’s just thankful for the public’s time and support.
“It’s really great to have a community that takes the time to help others,” she says.
Swarms are common in the spring when colonies outgrow their locations, Ploessner says, and more serious beekeepers usually have swarm traps that use artificial pheromones.
If you find a swarm of bees, don’t be alarmed. Call your local swarm catcher, who will happily relocate them for you.
As for Ploessner’s bees, they are still on the move. As of Thursday morning, they’d departed the Gracelands community (ironically located not far from the Planet Bee Honey Farm — perhaps they are headed to the Queen motherland?).
“It was only a small pit stop on their final destination,” Ploessner says. Wherever that is.
VIDEO: "I'm standing in the middle of a swam. It's kind of amazing"
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