Just a swarmin’… A large swarm of bees makes home in local resident’s weeping cherry
Published 3:52 pm Tuesday, April 28, 2020
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
This weeping cherry tree has become home to a large bee swarm.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
A lone bee flies back up to join with the rest of the swarm.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
A large swarm of hundreds of bees work to protect their queen bee.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Honeybees form a swarm at a local residence.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Hundreds of bees surround the queen bee.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
After scaring a group of roofers and a satellite installer, a swarm of bees made their home in a weeping cherry at Kay Nave's residence in Elizabethton.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
A large swarm of bees have made their home around their queen in a weeping cherry tree at Kay Nave's residence in Elizabethton.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
If someone had been passing Kay Nave’s house last Wednesday, they might have thought that an episode of The Andy Griffith show was being filmed at the expense of a swarm of honeybees.
Nave, like many other local homeowners, was getting a new roof put on her house as well as having a satellite dish installed.
What happened next would be comical to a bystander to see but to those who were in the middle of this episode it was anything but a funny tale.
“They were up there working and we also had a DISH satellite man up here on a ladder working and all of a sudden I could hear this commotion,” said Nave as she reconstructed the story.
“I was out front and all of these roofers came running up to the front and I thought where is the DISH man. I couldn’t understand what they were saying because they spoke Spanish.
“So when the DISH man came around, he said I thought the whole group of roofers had jumped because this whole swarm of bees had come at us and we didn’t know where they came from,” Nave continued.
It was a natural response most humans would have to have been in the same situation as these workers. After all, who wants to be chased by a large swarm of bees?
“They took off because they thought the bees were after them and the DISH man backed down the ladder and headed to the back yard because he thought they were coming after him,” Nave recounted.
“He said that he didn’t jump over the fence but that he fell over the fence. He said the bees then went into the weeping cherry tree.”
Nave said when everyone regained their wits that no one had been stung in the who melee which led her to believe that the bees were doing what came naturally for them and that was to protect their queen.
She went on to add that none of the men that were a part of the quick exodus could pinpoint where exactly the bees came from but it happened when the roofing crew moved to the backside of the home.
The fact that the bees have remained in the same tree since that day has amazed Nave, especially since there is not a lot of protection surrounded where the swarm finally latched onto the tree at.
Nave has been busy trying to find someone, maybe a local beekeeper, who would be interested in coming and removing the colony as honeybees are said to be becoming more and more extinct.
“My friend and I have called everywhere to see if anybody wanted them,” Nave stated. “They are so valuable these days. When they first swarmed they were just constantly circling the tree for the first couple of days. We didn’t go near them.
“Since then, they have just set in.”
Nave was hoping that by sharing the story that she would get someone interested in coming to remove the bees. Nave can be reached at 423-342-1498 if anyone is interested in coming to collect the bees.
