They're Back!

Over the years we've posted about a colony of honeybees that build a hive in the hollow fiberglass column that supports the roof above the side entrance to our home.  Each year they come and inhabit the column.  In the hot months of summer, the honey runs down the column and oozes out of the bottom onto the cement.  If you put your ear to the column, you can hear the buzzing vibrations of hundreds or thousands of bees.  Each year during the summer, the bees swarm, sending off new queens to start new colonies elsewhere.  Then, at some point, the bees leave.

I'm happy to have the bees here.  They pollinate the garden and fruit trees.  We've never been stung.  Tricia, however, is not as keen as I to have bees populating the area around the main entrance to our home.  "It's not very hospitable to our guests." she says.  After the bees leave, I'll take a 4x4 and a floor jack and will jack up the roof and remove the column.  I spray out all remnants of the honeycomb and hive with a pressure washer.  Then I coat the inside of the column with bleach, thinking that maybe they smell an attractant to lead them back.  Surely they won't find their way back next year.

Well...  I got a text at work the other day.  It had the photo below attached.  Her words on the text said, "Look closely...  What do you see?"

I immediately replied, "They're back!"  The swarming bees had found their way home.  I have no idea how they do this, but each year, they find their way back.  Swarming bees can be scary for some.  Look in the photo below, there is a green rain frog on the column.  He doesn't seem very concerned about the bees at all.

Once the bees get situated, they'll begin buzzing around and pollinating the garden and trees in the area.  Welcome Home, Bees!