Firefighter removes 100,000 bees from Fond du Lac home

(Editor's note: There have been questions regarding bee removal. Honeybees are not allowed to reside in proximity to homes, sidewalks, streets or populated areas in the City of Fond du Lac, according to Lt. Todd Shippee of the Fond du Lac Fire Department. The bees were moving a queen and were given about two days to move to a new location. Since they did not and due to safety concerns, Fond du Lac Fire Department personnel trained to identify and handle bees, and respond to emergency calls (bee spills), moved the bees to a rural location. These are certified firemen allowed to manage bees.)

Alfred and Rosalie Otto of Fond du Lac have been married 50 years. They have seen a lot, but never anything quite like this.

"It started with a few bees flying around," Alfred said. "My wife thought they were leaves. Then we had to call the police."

A swarm of honey bees on a mission to find a new home took up temporary residence in an Emerald Queen maple tree at the Otto home, 303 Hawthorne Drive.

An estimated 100,000 bees arrived about 3 p.m. Thursday, July 10, and gathered on two branches, swarming around their queen. They were on the move and looking for a new home, said Fond du Lac Fire Department Lt. Todd Shippee, who is also a beekeeper.

He was contacted to help the Ottos handle the bee situation and decide what to do. Although the bees appeared to be minding their own business, swirling and sending out scout bees, the tree was close to the sidewalk.

At first the Ottos were somewhat fearful. After all, it's 100,000 bees. Fond du Lac police came by and cordoned off the area with yellow barricade tape.

"Then we learned they won't hurt you," Alfred said. "They are just protecting their queen."

Shippee told the couple that if the bees were still there on Saturday, he'd come back and get them and take them to his bee colonies.

Common occurrence

The phenomenon is a common one, Shippee explained. When one bee hive gets too crowded the bees take an egg, give it some royal jelly and turn it into a new queen. After the new queen breeds with lots of male bees, she takes over the hive.

"The old queen takes a bunch of honey and some worker bees and they leave. They often hang out on a branch somewhere and send out scouts to look for a new home," he said.

The swarm can stay for hours or days.

A honey bee colony typically consists of three kinds of adult bees: Workers, drones, and a queen. Several thousand worker bees cooperate in nest building, food collection, and brood rearing. Each member has a definite task to perform, related to its adult age. But surviving and reproducing take the combined efforts of the entire colony. Individual bees cannot survive without the support of the colony.

"When you see a big swarm like this, don't panic or kill them. The world needs honeybees," Shippee said.

The honeybee is being threatened by loss of habitat. It has been estimated that millions of bees have died in the last decade and scientists are unsure of the exact cause. Bees feed on clover and dandelions and plants like corn and pesticides have been proven to affect their ability to navigate back to the nest.

The swarm in Fond du Lac weighed about eight pounds when Shippee loaded the bees into a wooden hive box and then into his green pickup truck.

Rosalie said no one got stung, even when Shippee was removing the bees from the tree. He used a tree clipper to cut the branch and put the whole thing in his vehicle.

"I have learned so much in the past few days, and I have a new respect for bees," Rosalie Otto said.

Shippee reminds residents that the Fond du Lac Fire Department is equipped to handle bees and can be contacted if a swarm should happen to stop by a neighborhood.

Contact Sharon Roznik at sroznik@fdlreporter.com or (920) 907-7936; Twitter @SharonRoznik.