"To bee or not to bee, that'e the question Tony Mulanax wonders, as he sticks his hand in the buzzing hive."
The Buzz Around The Shopper
by Shannon L. Story
It was Beth Patterson, Classified Manager, who looked out the window and noticed the place was buzzing with activity. "Hey guys," Beth shouted, "come here and look at all these bees!"
The Shopper staff swarmed to the window to see hundreds and hundreds of the little critters circling the birdbath like hungry mosquitoes at a picnic.
Tony Mulanax of Norm & Tony Mulanax Auto Repair happened by as the swarm of bees danced to the rhythm of their own making.
Tony got excited about the bees, but not for the same reason the staff did. Though there are at least 20,000 species of bees, the first thing everyone thought was "killer bees" like in the movies, but Tony put our fears to rest.
"No, these are honey bees," he said as he got into his car to go home and get a "brood box" for their capture. As Tony left, everyone stayed inside just in case Tony was wrong.
When Tony got back, he pulled out a white "brood box" smeared with honey. Some of the more brave of the Shopper staff ventured outside to see what Tony was going to do.
It takes courage--or insanity--to do what Tony did next. He bent over and stuck his hand into the writhing, buzzing hive and dumped most of them onto the top of the brood box. His hand covered with bees, he let them fly away on their own, which took only a moment. Those that lingered on his hand, he gently, shook off.
"You kill one bee, and the whole hive will swarm and attack," noted Tony. "But they won't hurt you if they know you won't hurt them."
"Yeah, right," everyone said as they made a beeline for the front door. Though the Shopper staff aren't thrilled with bees (friendly or not), Tony got interested in beekeeping seven years ago. "I have a small orchard and thought it needed some bees."
The thought of a new hive excited him because most of his hives were destroyed. There are many enemies of the honeybee: birds such as woodpeckers, that drill holes in honeybee hives; bears, mice, squirrels and skunks are also predators. But another enemy is making its presence know . . . fire ants.
"Fire ants will kill a hive by eating the babies. That's what destroyed most of my hives," notes Tony sadly. Now he has the hives hanging in trees instead of on the ground.
He was hoping he could add to his bee population with those swarming the Shopper. Unfortunately, the next day the hive was gone. Tony believes that it was probably fire ants near the brood box that drove the bees away.
Since this is the second time honeybees have swarmed the Shopper, chances are that we'll "bee" seeing Tony in the near future.