(Not sure if anyone would be interested .. ( The BEE colony). (Now with pics!!!)

[mikeofaustin]

(((updated at the end of this post with photos))).
Not sure if anyone remembered that bee hive in the old oak tree across the street from me that I talked about in previous posts. But today, it hit the fan. The city of Austin came out (after that wind storm that broke that branch about a month ago (another post)), but the city finally came out to 'trim' the tree'. They set up, went up in their cherry picker, cut right down the middle of the hive .....and they went running (yes, there are pics of that). About an hour later, the fire department and the EMT's showed up. "Bees are wild" as they called it. Then later, the calm and wise beekeeper came to straighten everything out. BUT, I made sure to take photo's of everything!!!!. Bee's swarming, chainsaws, EMTs, zoot suits, etc.... it was a very busy day for me. At one point, I actually thought about calling the local news station to get them out there, so I could get a shot of even them making a big deal about a little local honey bee colony that has been there for more than a year without hurting anyone. AND now they are taking them away for no reason at all (because people are scared).

Not sure if anyone is interested in the photo's that I have... but I have to warn you... no one was stung at all (temp was 60F). It's was truly a "non-issue" (exactly what I told the fire department). But, it's still funny to see these people setting up road blocks (police department) for a little honey bee hive. It almost makes me proud of those little guys for being able to make these stupid humans do what they did (my brother is a bee-keeper in Arkansas and he would love to see it too).
EDIT: Photo's here-> http://www.pcb-experts.com/photos/

[rubytuesday]

Hi Mike, my sister and her husband are bee farmers here in Australia. Yes, people do get a tad worked up over a few little honey bees. We'd love to see the pictures of everyone overreacting (excepting those who may be allergic as my husband is).

[lonesomebob]

I spent a day with a bee inside my veil,we got along fine. when I took the veil away ,the brat bee stung my eyebrow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Michaelangelo]

I remember the original post on the beehive and would love to see the pictures-got to be hilarious!!. Don't see many honey bees here in North Carolina any more. Growing up they were everywhere. Can't even guess how many times I stepped on them bare footed and got stung.

[lumbercamp]

I think I responded to your first post. I can't afford to buy bees anymore at over $100 a package. For a couple years I've had word out that I would remove any swarm that people come across. So far, no one has called. Beekeeping is a fun hobby.

[bootybay]

funny you mentioned this, I too would love to see pictures, I had a similar experience on mothers day a few years back, I heard a loud noise out front, I looked and said omg, its a swarm of bees, it was millions of em..then it got real real quiet, I went out again and they built a live beehive made out of all the live bees with the queen in the middle, well, my son is allergic to bees, so I called the police, ( yea yea, I know they thought I was a wacko) so they sent one cop out and he got out of his car and I said, oh are you here to see if I am crazy or not? he said umm yes.. so I said go look there..and he said holey sh&t thats alotta bees..he calls it in.. next thing ya know they dont know what to do, they never got a call like this.. so first they send the fire dept. ( this went on all day long it was so comical at this point).. fire dept guy says, I can kill em all.... I said no no not yet...so finally the officer there said to me, you are the talk of the dept, dont be suprised if everyone shows up to see it.. which one by one each cop showed up...so finally they call a bee keeper ( he was hours away) this bee keeper shows up.. with NOTHING..says he was there to see the situation. so he says, well you got Italian honey bees, I said to him, arent they a bit away from home so by this time he says he will be back to capture the bees... meantime whole neighborhood is like what the he&&s going on over there.. all the cops coming and going. I told the one cop, if this guy shows up in a haz mat suit, I will pee myself...so finally hrs. later the bee keeper shows up, starts to get into his white suit....yes, I ran to the bathroom.... what struck me even funnier was he taped the wrists of the suit, but no gloves on, no face mask on.. we all back up he goes up the ladder and shoves his bare hand in the live hive and says the queen is still there, so he grabs the queen, puts her in a special box on the ground and all the bees started to follow the queen..he came back hrs later to make sure all the bees got into the box. what a comical day it was I tell ya.

[dirt doctor]

Bees are in serious danger they are dying off at an alarming rate .They pollinate 70% of our edible crops once they are gone guess what happens next .

[spartacus53]

I think I responded to your first post. I can't afford to buy bees anymore at over $100 a package. For a couple years I've had word out that I would remove any swarm that people come across. So far, no one has called. Beekeeping is a fun hobby.

I'll be glad to send you a box of B's for $25....

P.S. for $5.00 more, I'll toss in a few vowels too

[lumbercamp]

Texastee, you're right. I did buy my bees from Sears years ago. I checked my records and in 1973, my first year of beekeeping, I paid $11.75 for a 2 lb package of bees.
Sorry spartacuss53, but vowels are on sale at Walmart this week for $2.39.

[Smee]

I don't know about other areas, but here in Crossett, Arkansas we have a beekeeping club. In fact, I learned about it after getting a website design job for a local beekeeping supply house. Learned bunches about beekeeping, beehives, etc.

You can do a Google search or even go through the yellow pages to get information about these associations. This one serves the Arklamiss (Arkansas/Louisiana/Mississippi) area, but I'm sure there's one in every corner of the country.

http://www.apiarybeekeepingsupplies.com/directory.html

Interesting PBS show about CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder):

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episo...l-episode/251/

[mikeofaustin]

I'll post the photo's, but I have I have more photo's since I've posted this. There were more incidents! The bee-keeper that originally showed up, turned out to be a real dummy. He and his girlfriend/wife were in bee suits, but the 4 year old that they brought along was not. I have photo's of him trying to put a chain on a chain saw, and he put's it on backwards. He gets up in the tree and tries cutting for about 30 minutes before he gets so upset, he starts using the chainsaw blade as a hammer. He later drives off (I assume he's trying to get a refund on the chainsaw blade), when he comes back with the blade put on in the right direction. ... So, NOW he's cutting some wood. He cuts a very large branch of oak off, and then realizes that it's simply way to heavy to even lift. He ends up cutting on the fallen piece for about an hour more before the two of them can lift it into the truck.
Aside from pouring gas on the ground, leaving a complete mess behind him, and completely hacking up a perfectly good, very old, oak tree, he finally got it. But, after all of this, the original hive (keep in mind, about 75% of the hive was taken away by the city of austin), he takes the small piece that he has, lifts it into the bed of the truck, and by then, there are no bees left... they flew off because of the stupidity. SOOOO.... today(!), I went outside and meet a texas forestry person that was called in because there are 'stragglers'. They came back and wondered what happened to their home. So, he sprays the branch with poison. Keep in mind, this all happened because a wind storm knocked a limb off a tree branch (I posted the photo of the wind storm on t-net).
I will be very keen on showing the before and after photos' of this majestic, very old, oak tree, and how they butchered it. I believe they called it a "right of way tree". Meaning, it was there before man got there, and it's supposed to be a tree to not touch. It's unfortunate that they couldn't just leave it alone, just as the bee's left every one else alone as well.
I'll have photo's up shortly. BUT, I'm guessing, there will be more 'official' people out to this site tomorrow or the next... to add their political garbage to nature.

BTW, I just watched a documentary on bee's. It's called, "Vanishing of the Bees (2009)". If you do a google search for this, and also add "watch online for free", you'll most likely find the movie. It's a really good flick.

I'll have the photo's up in a bit. -> and here she is... http://www.pcb-experts.com/photos/
(BTW, one photo in this bunch, you can see a big log being taken away with a crane. The length of that entire log in that photo was 75% of the hive. The "bee-keeper" only extracted about 25% of the hive. So, I don't know if the queen was still there or not. But, considering the length of that log, it was quit an impressive hive. I really do feel very satisfied at this point, that my little friends across the street created such an uproar among the stupid humans.

[olroy70]

I used to keep bees when I lived North of Austin. Fire ants ate em, and then the killer bees came in........... Hated it. Austin goes squirrley all the time.

BTW, the city don't hire people who know how to trim trees. Only tree butchers........... Hate to see that nice old oak done that way..
And, hate to see what they have done with the bees...............

Glad to be away from Austin, and out in West Texas!!!!!!!!!!!

[mikeofaustin]

You know what upset me probably the most, was that after I thought it was over (after another guy came out to spray for 'stragglers'), they came out the very next morning and cut the WHOLE DANG THING DOWN!!!! (last photo).
All this started because the homeowner had a tree limp fall into his yard, and couldn't do it himself. I witness him buy a chain saw, hack on a couple logs for about 30 minutes, but manual labor made him give up. His next option was to call the city... and then THEY are truly the butcherers. Forget triming back the old peices... the had to remove the entire tree. Who knows how long that old oak had been there. Really upsetting.

[kuger]

You know what upset me probably the most, was that after I thought it was over (after another guy came out to spray for 'stragglers'), they came out the very next morning and cut the WHOLE DANG THING DOWN!!!! (last photo).
All this started because the homeowner had a tree limp fall into his yard, and couldn't do it himself. I witness him buy a chain saw, hack on a couple logs for about 30 minutes, but manual labor made him give up. His next option was to call the city... and then THEY are truly the butcherers. Forget triming back the old peices... the had to remove the entire tree. Who knows how long that old oak had been there. Really upsetting.

Is he the blonde dredlock guy?

[Tuberale]

I side with the tree. A beauty!

Probably several hundred years old. Removed because of incompetence? Oak trees can resprout if judiciously trimmed. But after this butchery, I'm glad the bees made 'em pay.

Wonder what history happened under those branches.

[mikeofaustin]

You know what upset me probably the most, was that after I thought it was over (after another guy came out to spray for 'stragglers'), they came out the very next morning and cut the WHOLE DANG THING DOWN!!!! (last photo).
All this started because the homeowner had a tree limp fall into his yard, and couldn't do it himself. I witness him buy a chain saw, hack on a couple logs for about 30 minutes, but manual labor made him give up. His next option was to call the city... and then THEY are truly the butcherers. Forget triming back the old peices... the had to remove the entire tree. Who knows how long that old oak had been there. Really upsetting.

Is he the blonde dredlock guy?

Yep, but it was the city, in the last photo, that completely cut it down. There was a Texas forrestly guy that came out to spray for straggling bees, and I went out and we talked about the butchering. His comment was, "We'll hopefully she'll have enough canopy to regain itself after this", and I agreed. I felt like calling them up later to tell them that it surely won't grow back after removing the entire tree. (again, last photo).