Shop force to shut as bees swarm

Masterton's Bin Inn foodmarket was literally a hive of activity earlier this month when a giant swarm of honey bees descended on the store and took up residence on an outside wall.
As a crowd gathered to see the writhing mass of bees shopkeeper Jim Smith in a move reminiscent of Arkwright from Open all Hours was forced to shut up shop with his customers captive inside, while police and Wairarapa Hobby Beekeeper Club members worked out the best method of ridding the premises of its uninvited guests.
Colin Stewart of Homebush took control of the situation and freed the swarm from its resting place, gifting the swarm to novice beekeeper David Famularo who reports the bees have settled in well to their new home.
Mr Smith said the bees had descended like stuka aircraft to congregate on the eves of the shop and the only option he had to keep the bees from perhaps arriving en masse inside the shop, and to protect customers, was to shut the doors for about 15 minutes.
From all accounts it was nevertheless quite a lucrative quarter hour as the trapped customers had more time than usual to browse and buy.
Gerry Eady, who writes Wairarapa Midweek's Buzz from the Hive column, said for some unknown reason there seemed to be more swarms this summer than last.
One beekeeper had been called out to remove and box four swarms in December.
Swarm rescuers had travelled as far as Ngawi where thousands of honey bees had swarmed on a tree.
Mr Eady said while some knowledge of why bees swarm had been uncovered there were still many mysteries as to why bees chose to do so.
The bees cluster round the queen and fly off with her to form a solid mass on a tree or building.
People who discover a swarm should leave it alone and call police or a beekeeper so the bees can be removed safely and without fuss.
Mr Eady said the belief that bees won't sting when they are swarming is not true.
Although they may be less inclined to do so because of their strange concentration on swarming they will still sting if pestered or disturbed.
Swarms were reasonably common place in rural areas when New Zealand had a large feral bee population but few wild bees now survive due to varroa disease that has decimated them and impacted heavily on domestic hives too.
Varroa arrived in New Zealand from overseas, having started in South East Asia and spreading like wildfire through hives in Europe.
Mr Eady said beekeepers are hopeful that Hort Research New Zealand has succeeded in developing a natural fungus that will combat varroa.