Bees swarm to museum tree

Bees

A SWARM of wild bees hanging out in a tree at Tairawhiti Museum are being coaxed from their spot by a couple of apiarists.

Beekeepers Boyd McGregor and his son Stewart are using various methods to try to safely relocate the queen bee from her brood. They have set up a hive underneath the swarm for the Queen to move into. The theory is that once the queen is in, her colony will follow.

Mr McGregor said they want to save the bees and relocate them to a farm, even though they have been advised by some people to poison them.

“But bees are important for our environment.We’re trying to have them not sprayed and killed.

“It’s an ongoing process and we are doing it in the evenings when there are fewer people around.”

The McGregors have about 25-30 hives of their own and have all the safety gear required. Over the next few weeks, bees will be hatching in the swarm and they hope the brood will go to be with their queen in the new hive.

From there they will have to check the condition of the bees for mites, as they are wild and have not been looked after. Mr McGregor is not sure if the rain forecast over the next few days will help matters or not.

Gisborne District Council does not deal with bees or wasps on private land. GDC communications officer Jade Lister-Baty said the council will only remove nuisance bees if they are in a public place.

“Generally we’ll call beekeepers to come in to help. They take the queen and the swarm heads with her. In this case I suspect the museum has organised for someone to come in but they didn’t report it to us at all.

“In situations where there are bees swarming on private property, we advise people to give beekeepers a call.”

The GDC website says the property owner/occupier is responsible for controlling or attending to any bee or wasp nuisance on the property.