This past Saturday at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum, Secretary Bob Barcus was turning off some lights as the museum closed. Out of the corner of his eye, Bob spotted a swarm of honeybees that had attached themselves to the museums EJ&E weed burner (photo 1). Bob is in fact, a former bee keeper, who lost all his bees to disease. And the cost of new bees is prohibitive. So Bob saw an opportunity, IF he could make it home to get his bee brush and a bee box. Fortunately, due to some drizzly weather and the lateness of the day, the swarm was still there when he returned. He gently used his brush to relocate one side of the swarm into the box and then the other side (shot number 2). Then he waited about an hour for stragglers and the scouts to return to the swarm before he relocated the now sealed box (3rd photo) to his property. Most museums have problems with hornets and wasps which can cause problems for museum members and visitors alike, but bees are not usually a problem and are a critical necessity to pollination for many crops. Like many historic railroad artifacts, honeybees too are endangered these days due to various problems, so its nice to see that Hoosier Valley played a small part in getting this swarm a new caring home!

Les

A good news story. Here's hoping the hive prosper's well.

A few years ago a similar thing happen at the Connecticut Eastern RR Museum, a colony had moved into the floor of one of the cabooses. The hive was old enough to have a few combs started. So we called a local Apiary in Sterling, Ct to see if they wanted the hive. They came and removed the hive during the week.

Here's hoping that hive took off well in their new home. We never did get any Railroad Honey from them ;<)...

Les,

You don't know how lucky you are --- the bees we have in Guatemala (Abejas Africanizadas) not only are useless for honey production, and can't be managed in a colony for agricultural purposes, but they can be quite the nuisance. While inspecting an engine long out of service in 2001, we stirred up a hive in the firebox. It cost me my left knee, 15 years of dragging bone on bone before I could get it replaced.

However, I was lucky. A week before that happened, a poor vaquero fixing fences riled up a hive hidden in shoulder high weeds. They stung him AND HIS HORSE to death.

Take Care & WORK SAFE.

Sammy - Let's hope Mr. Barcus does a lot better with the bees he took home. Glad you were finally able to get your knee replaced.


Les

We had a swarm decide that the end frame of one of our cranes was a good place to start a hive last summer. We called in a local bee keeper that was more than happy to get them. Took him a while to get them all but he was successful.

My late father had a swarm decide that his hardhat was THE PLACE, while he was wearing it, out on a third story scaffold. He said, "All of a sudden the world got dark." Luckily, swarming bees aren't very aggressive. He "relocated" the hive by grabbing the visor and flinging it as far as possible, and the bees all followed it down. Once it hit the ground, I guess the queen decide it wasn't such a good place after all, and the whole swarm left for parts unknown.

THis was a great story to add to the website. Thanks for this, Les!

Asked Bob today, how the bees were doing and he said that initially very well. Workers returning with good amounts of pollen and sugar water (apparently used as an aid in honeycomb making) was replaced every day. But, the soybean field across from him was sprayed last week, and things have taken a downturn with bees returning with little pollen and the sugar water not used now for three days. To those who are interested, keep your fingers crossed!

Les

We had a queen bee settle in the crane housing of a volunteer's deuce and a half. The guys ended up flushing her out with water since the deuce is needed for moving equipment. Fortunately, the bees found another place to settle.