So occasionally, reporters do stories involving bees, which often requires getting up close and personal with a hive of bees. Otherwise, it is kind of difficult to put together a story about bees (for tv) if there aren't any bees.Today, it was my turn. An Abilene family keeps having a bee problem outside their home, and it's gotten so bad that the bees even started getting inside. They contacted me in hopes of talking about their mistakes, trying to get rid of the bees (that so many people make-as would I) and how a bee keeper is the only way to take care of a bee infestation.
Of course, when the beekeeper and myself showed up the home in South Abilene, the bees were gone. The family says within 45 minutes, a swarm of thousands were buzzing outside their home (and then like that they were gone). I learned from the bee keeper today, that this is the business of bees. They travel from hive to hive and that they are very territorial, hence why they sting. The stinging only comes as a result when the insects feel that their Queen is threatened.
Visting with an Abilene bee keeper, I learned a lot about the nature of bees. It's pretty fascinating...even the family with the infested home, thinks so.As the bee keeper is about to leave the house to go on another bee call, he notices in the distance (across the street) the enormous hive. He pointed it out to us and said it was the same swarm at the Abilene residence. So over to the hive we went. I tried to keep my safe distance because as much as I am all for good video, I wasn't looking forward to getting stung.
Fortunately, the bee keeper, Melvin Williams was generous enough to get right up to the hive with my video camera to show you the bees hard at work. Then he returned my camera, and got to work. I can tell you this much, I do not envy the responsibilities of a bee keeper. Truthfully, I was in awe of how brave he was (and how unconcerned he was about getting stung). Within moments, he captured the majority of the hive, which included the Queen...packing it in his container to take back to his place of observation. The remaining thousands of bees went everywhere, even circled around my head and another nearby man. This man helped swat the bee from my head, which then attracted the bee to him, but fortunately we both got away from the scene sting-free. I guess you'd call that pretty lucky...getting that close to bees.
