Posted on 09/27/2010 8:45:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A 100-pound beehive had some Cape Coral neighbors Monday. The incredible hive was found along Palm Tree Boulevard, but experts say it's no longer a safety concern.
Cape homeowner Chuck Koller says he learned the hard he should have stayed away from the hive.
"It was a big one," he said said. "I just crossed a couple of trees down from where it was and it still came after me and got me on the arm here."
He called the City of Cape Coral, who then called Bee Trapper Keith Councell to take care of the gigantic hive.
"This is one of the larger colonies that we've seen in an open public area like this," Councell said.
He said it was home to about 60,000 bees. At that size, he said the hive was considered to be a threat to the public and had to come down.
The process of bringing the hive down began in front of a curious audience. Councell explained that since the hive was tucked away in the tree, an entire branch had to be taken down.
Councell used smoke to calm the bees and then a pulley system was brought in to lower the hive.
"A 100-pound beehive! I've never seen in all my years, and I've got a lot of years," said neighbor Lucille Cipriano.
But the neighbors say it used to be even bigger! They said the hive was about 200-pounds before pieces fell off due to recent rough weather.
"I'm glad it's gone," Koller said.
100 pounds is not that heavy for a population that size. In the north a hive of 60,000 bees would probably need at least 150 to 200 pounds of honey to make it through the winter.
What do they do with the bees in a case like that? I know we haven’t seen that many bees and they seem to be at a low in population in general.
Thought you might like to see this one...
I’ll bet the whole neighborhood was buzzing over the news.
Deep fry them?
To quote Glenn Beck: “Only the bees know”
I think maybe commercial apiaries are causing too much competition for the wild colonies which leads to hive collapse. I have a wild colony in my back yard. I decided to pass on buying a commercial hive for that reason.
I walk up to beehives with a camera all the time, never a problem. They won’t tolerate arm waving ot other threat behavior but they don’t look for excuses to attack people.
No that is a rat’s nest not a bee hive.
From what I have read about this, the commercial hives/colonies are the ones really hit hardest by collapse. The wild ones aren’t hardly at all.
Part of the reason was the wild bees are a little smaller than the commercial hive bees. Their size difference makes the chambers they grow in smaller, and apparently that makes a big difference to some of the mites and diseases that could affect them.
What are the odds drugs are hidden in there?
interesting. I really want a commercial hive. I think I still don’t want to introduce another colony on the property though. Maybe I can get to the wild honey at some point?
Bees do no hibernate, they store anywhere from 100 to 300 pounds of honey to last them thru the winter, the bees do come out during the winter when the temp is avove 45 degrees.
bee keepers usually alway leave one large super(90#) full of honey for the bees to eat during the wintet.
Honey bees do not hibernate. They throw the male bees and the older bees out of the hive to die. Then they clump into a ball and shiver all winter long, gradually eating their way from the bottom of the hive to the top.
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