While we were walking the dogs this afternoon, Damsel called me over by the mesquite tree across the road to show me a swarm of bees that were hanging from a branch. I already had my camera and long lens since I was going to take a photo of a project with the travel trailer. I took the photo of the bees in the top image.
I called one of our neighbors to see if he knew if there was a bee keeping service in town. He just happened to have a friend that kept bees and would be interested in harvesting this swarm.
Shortly after dusk, they showed up with all the equipment, bee suits and whatever and proceeded to knock the swarm, queen bee and all out of the tree and into a bucket with a lid (of course). The whole process took about half an hour, but the bees are gone, to our neighbors’ and our mutual relief. They have kids and we have dogs, neither that mix well with a beehive in the vicinity.
Click on either image to enlarge.