Bee swarm in my yard

[CptnRn]

We have a serious bee shortage in the USA today, we need them to help fertilize the plants we eat. Thank you for saving this swarm. You did a good thing for all of us.

[Idlewile]

Very cool indeed.

[TexasHorseLady]

We have a bunch of bees that set up a hive in an old 55-gallon barrel on its side in back of our garage (we live in the country, there's a tidy double row of barrels stacked on their side that were there when we moved in, and we occasionally use one for something). They used to be in a hollow of a willow tree beside our creek before a huge windstorm took it down, and then they moved to the barrel and have lived there for years. We don't get honey from them, but they pollinate the plum and peach trees and all the flowers.

I'm allergic to wasps, apparently not bees, but I don't let it freak me out and I've so far never been stung (though my husband has once or twice due to not paying attention). Mostly we avoid that area by giving it about a ten foot berth when passing, and only mow there in the evening after they've settled down.

We feel it's our responsibility to the planet to make sure they're happy and proliferate, given that if the bees get wiped out (and they're at risk right now), so do we.

[G Grasshopper]

We need more people to do similar things, THL. Its about respecting the natural world rather than always trying to tame, control and kill it. And you are right that bees definitely need all the help they can get, not just honey bees, but all sorts of bees. They all have their place. (Although the Africanized bees are out of place.)