A Man's Car Is Filled with 15,000 Bees

A man in New Mexico drove to a grocery store. He parked his car in the lot, leaving a window open. Then he went inside to shop. When he came out, he loaded his groceries in the back seat. He started driving away. That is when he saw it. There was a clump of 15,000 honey bees hanging from one of his rear windows. The fire department came to help. Jesse Johnson is part of the department. He is a firefighter and beekeeper. Johnson safely removed the bees. He loaded them into beehive boxes. The swarm looks scarier than it is dangerous. "I will do anything to keep people from killing the bees."

The Buzz about Bees

Honey bees live in a group called a colony. The colony has three kinds of adult bees. There is a queen, some drones and many workers. The main job of the queen is to lay eggs. Drones are male honey bees. Their only job is to help the queen make offspring. Worker bees are female bees that do not lay eggs. A hive has mostly worker bees. They protect the hive and look for food. Honey bees can form a swarm. This happens when the queen and about half of her worker bees leave a colony. They fly off to make a new colony in a new place. The rest of the bees stay in the original hive. They make a new queen. Swarming creates two colonies from one.

Moving the Hive

While the swarm is traveling, it will land on something nearby. It could be a tree. It could even be a car. This stop does not last for long. Some bees will find a new place for the hive. The swarm flies to the new spot to build their new home. The fire department in New Mexico does not usually remove swarms. But they wanted to keep people safe. So, they moved the bees. Johnson will start a new hive for them. It is on his property outside the city. Fortunately, there were no major injuries. Only one grocery store security guard got a bee sting.