On Tuesday June 2nd, a local resident, Eden Parks, posted on Facebook a photo that would make anyone’s skin crawl… unless you’re Preston Pouteaux and Tracy Weight – two local beekeepers. Parks, who lives near the pond in Kinniburgh, was out walking her dogs in a field behind the pond when up in a tree she saw a large black mass. “At first I thought it was someone in dark clothing lurking up in the tree, I have quite the imagination,” laughed Parks.
Parks went on to explain that she soon realized it was either bees, wasps or caterpillars. She grabbed her phone and snapped a few pics and then took to social media to first, try and determine exactly what they were and then see if there was anything to be done.
When Chestermere resident and beekeeper, Preston Pouteaux, saw Park’s post, he quickly came to the rescue. Getting in touch with friend and fellow beekeeper, Tracy Weight, a plan was hatched to go check out the site, collect the bees and move them to Weight’s acreage. All decked out in their beekeeper gear, Pouteaux and Weight headed to Kinniburgh and gently began the process of removing the bees from the tree into portable bee boxes. Slowly brushing them off the tree, the bees appeared to be quite easily convinced that a trip to greener pastures was a much better idea, especially considering that during all of this, it was cold and raining.
According to Pouteaux, who has been a beekeeper for four years, bees will swarm when they are looking for a place to settle. Pouteaux said that the whole process only took about thirty minutes.
Pouteaux went on to say, “If people have a swarm of bees, stay calm and call a beekeeper. Bees are too important to kill”.
